


Shadow & Light

by babydolljones1104



Series: Shadow & Light [1]
Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Childhood Trauma, Dark Past, F/M, Hawkins National Laboratory, Lab Experiment, POV First Person, Past Child Abuse, Present Tense, Science Fiction, Stranger Things 2
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-02 17:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 26
Words: 30,040
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24220666
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/babydolljones1104/pseuds/babydolljones1104
Summary: Lux spent the first twelve years of her life being referred to as 010. She lived in Hawkins Lab, working to get her electrokinesis under control. But she escaped and has spent the past five years laying low in Chicago.After years of trying to forget about her old life, Lux returns to Hawkins when she hears reports of a young girl with a shaved head running around the town the year before. This girl didn't just have a shaved head. She could also move things with her mind. Lux knows without a doubt that this girl is 011, who was like a sister to her in the Lab.When Lux is almost hit by a car on her first night in Hawkins, she turns it off with her mind. The car belongs to Billy Hargrove, who has recently moved to Hawkins. Even though he almost killed her, Lux likes him. And as she and Billy grow closer, she discovers that his stepsister Max has befriended a group of boys who supposedly met 011 the year before.In her search for her sister, Lux is thrown headfirst into a world far more dangerous than she ever would have thought possible.
Relationships: Billy Hargrove/Original Character(s), Billy Hargrove/Original Female Character(s)
Series: Shadow & Light [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1748227
Comments: 2
Kudos: 56





	1. Chapter 1

_October 23, 1984_

There’s electricity hanging in the air.

Literally.

I can see the neon blue currents running through the room, and I pull them toward me. I can’t help but think about how the currents match my eyes. I wonder if my eyes are so blue because of the electricity running through me. I’ve heard multiple people describe my eyes as electric blue. If only I could tell them how right they are. I technically don’t have any extra electricity running through me. I’m just connected to the electricity.

Once the majority of the electrical currents are balled up in my hand, I turn my hand palm-down and let the ball slowly drop toward the floor, a string of the current still wrapped around my index finger. Then I bring the ball back up toward my hand. I have my own yo-yo made from electricity. I do this a lot when I’m nervous. It usually calms me down. But it’s not working tonight.

I lean my head back against the wall behind my mattress, sorting through the information I’d heard earlier.

An hour ago I was sitting in the bar downstairs and heard a couple of journalists talking. The news doesn’t usually interest me. I have too much going on in my life to focus on the lives of others. But these journalists weren’t exactly talking about the news. The subject they were talking about was one of interest to me. I have personal involvement in it. These journalists were talking about Murray Bauman and his current activities in Hawkins, Indiana. I’ve never met the guy, but I know who Murray Bauman is. He had been a journalist for one of the bigger newspapers in Chicago, where I’m currently living. But a few years ago, he was fired. I don’t know the exact details, but he had apparently become convinced that the government is not on our side. He began writing all these articles about different government conspiracies and was fired shortly after.

People think he’s crazy. Of course they do. If people don’t like what they hear, they write it off as crazy-talk. If someone doesn’t fit the societal norms, they’re written off as crazy. Personally, I think Murray Bauman might be one of the smarter people I’ve heard about. Not enough people are willing to open their eyes. His are wide open, and he’s trying to help other people see the truth. But I’ve known the truth my entire life.

These journalists were talking about Murray Bauman’s latest investigation. He’s now working as a private investigator and was recently hired by a couple in Hawkins, Indiana to find their missing daughter.

And that was when I started listening to these journalists’ conversation. Hawkins is where I’d lived for the first twelve years of my life, if you could call what I had done living.

And according to these journalists, Murray Bauman is now talking non-stop about Russian spies in Hawkins. But I _really_ became interested when the journalists said that Murray Bauman’s proof of a Russian presence is multiple reports of a young girl with a shaved head who can control things with her mind.

And that was when I came back up to my apartment to think.

Like I said earlier, I’d spent the first twelve years of my life in Hawkins. I had lived in a government-run lab. It was a lonely life. I didn’t have a name. I was simply known as 010. I’d spent most of my time training. My training involved being hooked up to various machines and trying to learn how to control electricity. When I wasn’t training, I was usually stuck in my tiny bedroom.

I was born with electrokinesis. It had been apparent shortly after I was born. Papa, who I had later learned was not my real father but a man named Dr. Brenner, had told me that when I began crying in the hospital, I shut down all the power in the building. Thanks to that power outage, by the time I was an hour old, I already had a body count of thirteen people. Even if it was unintentional, Dr. Brenner saw real potential in me. So, he paid my mom a lot of money for me.

Yes, my mother sold me to the government. Dr. Brenner raised me and was the only parental figure I’ve ever known. I guess he knew my mom before I was born. She had been part of some kind of psychology experiment in the ‘60s, shortly before I was born.

So, for the first twelve years of my life, Dr. Brenner taught me how to control my electrokinesis although he never told me why it was so important for me to learn. If I did well in my training, I was occasionally able to play with some of the other kids living in the Lab.

And that’s where that so-called Russian girl with the shaved head comes in. She isn’t Russian. She was born in America and raised in Hawkins Lab, like me. I had known her as 011. She was a few years younger than me, and she had the power to move things with her mind. Despite the age gap, she and I had been close. We had considered each other sisters. We’d had an older “sister”, who was called 008. She could make people see whatever she wanted them to. I had been maybe nine or ten years old when 008 disappeared. Dr. Brenner had told all of the children living in the Lab that 008 had been transferred.

I was never sure whether I believed him. I’m still not.

I was twelve years old when I finally started questioning things. The people running Hawkins Lab didn’t like it when I questioned things. Pretty soon, I realized that I was more powerful than the people running the Lab. I had no reason to follow their orders. No one else there had seen it my way, so I escaped.

I had loved 011 and had wanted to take her with me, but she was still convinced that “Papa” wanted what was best for us, and would never do anything to hurt us. Forcing her to come with me would have been too much of a risk. I had no choice but to leave her. I haven’t seen her or heard about her since. Of course, that’s not a surprise at all, but I still worry about her all the time.

I look at the clock laying on the floor next to my mattress. It’s barely past ten o’clock. I’ve been sitting up in my apartment for a couple of hours now, going over what I know.

If this girl really was 011, which I know she was, then it’s safe to assume that 011 had escaped Hawkins Lab. But no one has seen her since early November, almost a year ago. And during the week people mentioned seeing her, a man had been found dead, supposedly by suicide. A teenage girl had gone missing around the same time. And then the journalists in the bar downstairs had mentioned something weird about another boy who had also gone missing but had been found. The weird thing about that, though, is that everyone in Hawkins had thought he was dead. There was been a funeral and everything. There were a lot of weird things going on at that time, and I know that it all goes back to 011 and the Lab.

None of this is much to go by. Anything could have happened to 011 in the past year. But if she escaped last year, she would have been around twelve years old at the time. I had been twelve when I escaped, and I’ve somehow managed to survive on my own these past five years. It’s not hard to imagine that she had too, especially considering the fact that she’s not like other twelve year olds. Other twelve year olds don’t have the power to control things with their minds.

Really, I have no proof my sister is alive. And even if she is, who’s to say she’s still hanging around Hawkins? Who’s to say she isn’t back in the Lab, still Dr. Brenner’s star test subject?

Am I seriously going to go to Hawkins to search for her?

I watch the ball of electricity dim in my hand until it disappears completely. I wipe the blood off my face. My nose bleeds every time I use my powers, and I consider it a very small price to pay.

Am I actually going to do this?

I shake my head as I pulled my waist-length, blonde hair into a ponytail. “God damn it,” I mutter. Then I get up to find my duffle bag.


	2. Chapter 2

In less than fifteen minutes, I have my entire life packed into my duffle bag and I’m walking down the stairs in the back of Jay’s Tavern.

“Hey, Lux? Where are you going?” Jay, the owner of the bar, calls as I head toward the front door.

I turn around and walk over to him. “I’m going back to my hometown for a few days. There’s a family thing I need to take care of.”

“Don’t forget, your rent is due next week.”

Jay was one of the first people I met when I came to Chicago. If I have to guess, I’d say that he’s in his mid-forties now. But when he was a teenager, he had been a runaway. When he found out that I’m a runaway as well, he hooked me up with a job at the arcade down the street, and let me live in the unused studio apartment above his bar. The rent he charges me is less than a quarter of what he could get for the place.

Jay is a good guy. And even though I need all the money I have, I don’t want to stiff him on the rent. I take my wallet out of my back pocket and grab a handful of cash. I hold it out toward him as I say, “I might not be back by the end of the month.”

He takes the money and studies my face. “Is everything ok?”

I nod. “Yeah, why wouldn’t it be?”

“I’ve never heard you say a single thing about your life before you came here, and now you’re running out in the middle of the night to see your family?”

I want to tell him the truth. I want to be able to tell someone the truth for once in my life. But I can’t do anything that might put anyone else in danger. So, all I say is, “Don’t worry about me. I can take care of myself. I’ll see you when I get back.”

“I’ll see you around,” He says in a way that tells me he doesn’t quite believe that.

I don’t either. I have no idea what’s going to happen in Hawkins. For all I know, this could be a trap. I know that sounds paranoid, but that’s what life on the run does to you.

I head out the door and down the block to a poorly lit parking lot. I walk around the parking lot, looking for a good car to take. I need something common enough that it won’t stand out once it’s reported stolen. An older car is preferable but I need it to be in good enough shape to be able to get me to Hawkins. I finally settle on a silver BMW from the mid-seventies.

I close my eyes and picture the electrical currents running through the car. The car starts and I grin to myself. Who needs to learn to hotwire a car when all it takes is half a thought to turn it on? I use my powers to unlock the car. I climb in, throwing my duffle bag in the backseat, and put my hands on the steering wheel. I take a deep breath before saying to myself, “Let’s go home.”


	3. Chapter 3

_October 24, 1984_

Last night, I drove until I was about halfway between Chicago and Hawkins. But I pulled over on the side of the road when I didn’t think I was going to be able to keep my eyes open any longer.

This morning I woke up and immediately started driving again. Now it’s just past noon and I’m walking through the woods after ditching the car just outside of Hawkins. I’m not stupid enough to drive a stolen car all the way into town, where there’s a good chance multiple people would see me in it. I’m especially not going to take that chance since I’m a stranger in a small town. People will notice me. And being seen in a stolen car would only make things worse.

After almost an hour of walking, I reach Hawkins. I know that I’m going to have to find a cheap motel to stay in, and I finally come across a Motel 6, which seems to be the only motel in Hawkins. I walk into the front office and go to the desk. I don’t see anyone, so I ring the bell on the desk. A guy comes out of the back room with a cigar hanging out of his mouth and asks, “You want a room?”

“Yes, please.”

“For the hour or for the night?”

Oh dear god. “Uh, for a week, actually,” I tell him.

He stares at me for a moment. “You serious?”

“Yes, sir.”

He shrugs. “We don’t usually have people stayin’ here for more than a few hours, but if you want to stay here for a week, be my guest.”

I pay him for a week’s stay, and he hands me a key attached to a small block of wood with the room number written on it.

I go around the back of the building, where my room is located. I unlock the door and I’m surprised to find that the room looks like it’s been cleaned recently. I throw my duffle bag down on the bed before walking into the bathroom. The bathroom isn’t too dirty looking, either. Of course, given the ‘for the hour or for the night’ question, I’m still going to have to disinfect the entire room before I touch anything.

So, I walk to the supermarket down the street and buy a few things. Food, bottled water, toiletries, some cleaning supplies, a couple of towels, and a cheap set of bed sheets.

I go back to my motel room and immediately strip the bed. I ball up the sheets and throw them in a corner before putting my new sheets on the bed. Then I get to work wiping everything else down with disinfectant spray.

Once I’m certain that I’m not going to get any diseases just from touching anything in the room, I collapse on the bed. I’m in serious need of a full eight hours of sleep. I’ll focus on finding 011 when I wake up.

I wake up at ten after getting a full eight hours of sleep. Even though I know that I should focus on trying to figure out how I’m going to find 011, all I can think is, _I’m starving._ I haven’t eaten since yesterday afternoon.

This motel room doesn’t have a fridge or a microwave, so all I got at the supermarket was stuff like chips, crackers, and a package of Oreos. But I don’t want any of that, I want real food. And as I get out of bed, I decide that I need to find a pizza place.

I haven’t been walking long when I walk past a steel mill that looks like it’s been abandoned. Even so, the exterior lights are on. There are no street lights around here, and I’m sick of walking in the dark, so, I cross the street.

I’m in the middle of the street when a car comes around the turn. The car’s headlights are turned off, which doesn’t really matter since it’s going way too fast to avoid hitting me.

Without thinking, I throw my left hand up, killing the car’s power.

The engine dies immediately.


	4. Chapter 4

The car, which I can now tell is a blue Camaro, brakes and as I stand there, waiting to see what the driver is going to do, I wipe the blood from my nose with the inside of my jacket sleeve.

This is not good.

I just exposed my powers to whoever is driving that car. I’ve spent five years keeping my powers hidden, and in one second of panic, I just threw all that hard work out the window.

The driver’s door opens. “What the fuck?” He asks as he gets out of the car. He’s a guy about my age, with dirty blonde hair down to his shoulders and an earring in his left ear. And he looks pissed. “What the fuck did you just do?” He asks me.

“Are you kidding me?” I shout. “What the fuck are you doing? This street has a speed limit of like, thirty. You had to be going three times faster than that. And by the way, you’re supposed to have your headlights on! Is this your first time driving or something?”

“Yeah, I know all that. I forgot to turn the headlights on, ok? And you stopped my car. You didn’t even touch it.” He pauses, obviously processing what just happened. “How did you do that?”

“I didn’t do anything,” I tell him.

“You pointed at my car, and it turned off.”

I shrug. “I held out my hand to try to tell you to slow down. Your car turning off was just a crazy coincidence.”

“I don’t believe in coincidences,” He tells me. He stares me down as he slowly says, “I’m going to ask one more time. What the hell did you do?”

I laugh. “Are you seriously trying to intimidate me? Nothing scares me. Certainly not some guy from a small town like this. I eat guys like you alive for breakfast.”

“I’m not from this shithole. I just moved here from California.”

I glance at his license plate, and sure enough, there’s a California plate on the front of the Camaro. I shrug. “I guess it’s true what they say, then.”

He looks at me curiously. “What’s true?”

“That people from California are awful drivers.”

He smirks as he takes a few steps closer to me. “Don’t think you can make me forget what you did to my car.”

“You sound insane,” I tell him. “Have a nice life.” I turn to walk away, but he grabs my arm and grips it hard. I send a jolt of electricity through me and into him.

He lets go, holding his hands up. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean-”

I glare at him. “Touch me again and I’ll fry your brain.”

He stares at me with an expression I can’t read. “What are you?”

“I’m a human being,” I answer. “What else would I be?”

“You just electrocuted me. In between stopping my car and threatening to kill me by electrocution.”

“Like I said, the car thing was a coincidence. Me shocking you was as well.” I shrug. “Some people just carry a lot of static. You know, you touch a doorknob or something and you get shocked? It happens to me a lot, and people who touch me get shocked. As for the frying your brain thing, I meant that literally. I’m a cannibal and if you touch me again, I’ll kill you, cook your brain, then eat it.” Sometimes the best way to freak out a crazy person is to out-crazy them.

But I don’t freak this guy out. Instead, he laughs. “You’ve got a sick mind, you know that?” He smiles as he adds, “I like it.”

“A lot of people seem to like my mind.” And that’s the understatement of the century. My mind and what it can do had been all anyone at Hawkins Lab focused on.

He watches me for a moment before telling me, “I’m Billy Hargrove.”

I smile. “My name’s Lux.”

“You got a last name, Lux?”

“Nope. It’s just Lux. Like Madonna.”

Billy studies me for a moment before asking, “What are you doing walking around an area like this at this time of the night?”

“Looking for a pizza place.” I pause before adding, “I’m not from around here, either.”

“I could eat some pizza,” He says. “Let’s go find some.”

I grin and start walking around to the passenger door. “Sounds good.”

As we get in the car, Billy asks, “Is my car going to start?”

I shrug. “How should I know? Do cars normally start after they randomly turn off?”

He laughs. “I don’t know how you did it, but I know you did something.”


	5. Chapter 5

We find a pizza place on Main Street. It’s one of those order-by-the-slice places, which I like. It would help me save some money.

There are a few booths along the front wall, where you can watch people walking by outside. I like that, too. I’m a people-watcher. It’s essential to my survival. But most of the tables in this place are those round ones that are high off the floor and are surrounded by barstools. They remind me of Jay’s Tavern.

I’m quiet as I think about Jay and the bar. Jay had been my first friend outside of the Lab, and I left without telling him that I might not be coming back. I’m not sure where I’d go after this, but I know that I’ve always wanted to see the beach. Maybe I’ll head for California once my business here is done.

I’m pulled out of my thoughts when I realize that Billy asked me something. I turn to him. “Sorry, what?”

He’s pointing at my left wrist. “Your tattoo. What does it mean?”

I look down. The left sleeve on my denim jacket is missing the buttons on the wrist and never stays closed. Unfortunately, this usually puts my 010 tattoo on full display. Everyone from Hawkins Lab has a tattoo on their left wrist, indicating which test subject they are. We had been branded like cattle. As if being referred to by a number instead of a name isn’t already dehumanizing enough.

I shrug, tugging my sleeve down. “I was drunk when I got it. I guess that at the time, I thought it would look cool.”

“You said you’re not from around here, so what are you doing here? Hawkins doesn’t exactly seem like a big vacation spot.”

“I’m just here for a family thing.”

“You aren’t sticking around, then?”

I shake my head. “I’ll probably be out of here in a couple of weeks.”

“That’s too bad. I thought I finally found something that makes this place interesting.”

“Sorry to disappoint,” I say with a smirk. “So, how long have you been here?”

“We got here yesterday morning.”

“‘We’?”

“My dad, my stepmom, my stepsister, and me. My stepsister and I don’t start school until next week, we’re supposed to spend this week unpacking while my dad and my stepmom Susan are at work.”

“What year are you in?” I ask.

“I’m a senior. You?”

I’m not in school. I’ve never been to an actual school, but I know enough to know that since I turned seventeen earlier this month, I’d most likely be a junior. So, I tell him, “I’m a junior.”

“Too bad you won’t be going to school here.” Billy shrugs as he admits, “It would be nice to know at least one person when I start next week.” Then he asks, “If you’re not from here, then where are you from?”

“Chicago.” Billy doesn’t say anything as he stares at me and I ask, “You’re interrogating me, aren’t you?”

“I’m not,” He says with a laugh. “I’m just trying to find out more about you.”

I shrug. “Well, you’re not going to find anything interesting. I’m as ordinary as they come.”

“I don’t believe that for a second.”

I don’t say anything. He has no idea how right he is. There is nothing ordinary about me, although I sometimes wish there was. Just so I could have a semi-normal life.

“Are you ready to get out of here?” He asks me. “I’ll give you a ride back to wherever you’re staying.”

I need to start my search for 011 tomorrow. But before I can do that, I need to figure out _how_ to start my search. So far, I have no plan. I know I need to come up with one, so as much as I would love to stay here talking for the rest of the night, I say, “Yeah, let’s go.”

When Billy drops me off at the motel, he says, “Listen, I know you said you’re only going to be here for a couple of weeks, but I want to see you again. You know, when you’re not busy with your family.” The way he looks at me tells me he doesn’t believe that I’m here visiting family. He hands me a piece of paper. “Here’s my number. If a guy answers and it's not me, hang up. My dad is… He’s not someone you want to deal with. You should be ok if it’s Susan or my stepsister Max.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” I say, getting out of the car. “See you around.”

I go into my motel room and sigh as I lean against the door. Over the past few years, I’ve had my share of bad boyfriends. Actually, I’ve had nothing but bad boyfriends. Most of them were older, and all of them were cheaters, violent, and liked to get drunk or high. Some of them liked to get drunk _and_ high. And of course, with my luck, the one time I find a nice guy, he’s in a town that I only plan on being in for a couple of weeks.


	6. Chapter 6

_October 25, 1984_

When I wake up on Thursday morning, I know I need to get serious about finding 011. For the millionth time in the past thirty-six hours, I go over what I know.

I know that she had been seen at some diner shortly before the owner was found dead. I know that it was ruled a suicide, but I also know that Hawkins Lab is not above covering up a murder. Rumor has it that she’d broken a kid’s arm with her mind and had also broken a window at a grocery store. Then, of course, there are those two people who had gone missing. Only one was found.

It’s easy for me to believe the girl who went missing, who’s now being looked for by Murray Bauman, is connected to 011. Hawkins Lab had forced me to use my powers on animals all the time. I suspect it was the same for the other kids. While I was never told to do anything to another person, it wouldn’t surprise me if Brenner had begun making the remaining kids at the Lab do so.

But that other kid who had gone missing, the dead boy who had come back to life? I have no idea how to explain that.

One thing all of these sightings of 011 have in common was the fact that they were part of a crime. Murder, assault, vandalism, and missing people. I figure the police had to know about these things happening, so I decide that going to the police station is going to be my first step in finding my sister.

I walk for a while, trying to get a ride from anyone passing by. I know where the police station is, I saw it across the street from the pizza place the night before, And if I don’t get a ride, it’s going to be a long walk.

I could have easily taken a car from the motel parking lot, but I didn’t want to risk being caught. Besides that, I don’t think pulling up to the police station in a stolen vehicle is a very good idea.

Finally, a woman in a green Pinto stops for me and is more than happy to take me to the police station. We drive mostly in silence until she sees the tattoo on my wrist. “Ten?” She asks. “What does that mean?”

I look at her. “You’re one of the only people to get it right,” I tell her. “Most people read it as zero-one-zero. But it doesn’t mean anything. I was drunk.” She’s looking at me funny, so I add, “I don’t get drunk a lot. I’m a good kid, I swear.” I don’t need her to kick me out of her car because she thinks I’m going to mug her or something like that.

“I’m not judging you. I was a teenager once,” She says. “I’m Joyce Byers, by the way. I don’t think I caught your name.”

“Lux.”

“That’s a pretty name.”

“Thanks,” I say with a smile.

“So, did you just move to Hawkins?”

“Is it really that obvious that I’m not from around here?”

“It’s a small town,” Joyce answers.

“I live in Chicago,” I tell her. “I’m just here for a family thing.” We pull up in front of the police station and as I get out of the car I say, “Thank you so much for the ride.”

When I walk into the police station, there’s an older woman sitting at the front desk. She’s doing what looks like a crossword puzzle and looks up as I approach her. “How can I help you?” She asks.

“I think I need to speak with whoever’s in charge,” I say. I’m not sure how things work in a police station, and who handles what, so going to the highest person up seems like the best plan.

“That would be Chief Hopper. I’ll take you to him.” She gets up and leads me through a small door, past a few desks, and down a hallway. She stops at the door at the end of the hall and knocks.

“What?” A very annoyed-sounding voice calls from the other side.

The woman opens the door. “You’ve got a visitor, Jim,” She says before heading back down the hall.

I nervously put my hands behind my back as I step into the office.

The chief leans back in his chair. “What can I help you with?” He asks.

I’m not sure how to explain things, so I say, “I heard about some things that happened last year involving a little girl with a shaved head.”

“What are you, a reporter? I don’t talk to reporters.”

“I’m not a reporter. But I’m curious. This girl had a shaved head and could… do things. Do things with her mind. Right?”

“Those were rumors. All of them. Do you actually believe that someone could move things with their mind?”

I shrug. “I don’t know. You tell me.”

“Did Murray Bauman send you here?”

“No, why? Have you talked to him?”

“Oh, so you do know him.”

“No, but I’ve heard of him. I’m from Chicago. He used to be a reporter there.”

“Yeah, I know. Now he’s just a pain in my ass.”

I have a feeling this guy knows more than he’s letting on. “Did this girl have any other distinguishing features? You know, besides the shaved head?”

“She doesn’t exist, so it doesn’t matter.” He looks at me. “Are we done here?”

Whatever he knows, he’s not going to talk. So I say, “Yeah, we’re done.” I turn around and leave the office. In the hallway, I’m about to close the door when I see a bulletin board on the wall across from the chief’s office door. There’s a newspaper clipping with a picture of a young boy and the headline:

**Will Byers:** **The Boy Who Came Back to Life**

I wonder if he’s related to Joyce Byers. They look similar. I skim the article and realize this is the same boy those reporters in Chicago had mentioned.

“Hey, close the door!” Chief Hopper calls from behind me.

I turn and go back into his office. “That boy, Will Byers, he came back to life? How is that possible?”

“He was never dead. He was just lost in the woods. But that headline wouldn’t sell as many papers as one claiming someone came back from the dead does.”

“Why was there a funeral for him if he wasn’t dead?” I question.

“When we were searching for Will, we found a body in the quarry. We thought it was him.”

“The body you found looked like him?”

“No, we thought it was him because it was decomposed. Will Byers was the only missing kid. It made sense at the time.”

It doesn’t make sense, though. And I have a hard time believing that it did a year ago, either. “How long was Will Byers missing?”

“About a week.”

“And you all thought that this body you found in the quarry was him? Don’t bodies take longer than that to decompose beyond recognition?” When the chief doesn’t answer, I ask, “If that body wasn’t Will Byers, then who was it?”

“We still don’t know.” Chief Hopper looks at me. “Hasn’t anyone ever told you that it can be dangerous to ask too many questions?” It seems like he’s warning me. There’s a threat in there, but I don’t think it’s coming from him.

“I have just one more question,” I say.

“What’s that?”

“What can you tell me about Hawkins Lab?”

He stares at me for such a long time that I start to think he’s going to kick me out of his office without answering me. Finally, he says, “It’s just a power plant. Now, if you don’t mind, I’m really busy here.”

I nod. “No problem. Thanks for your time.”

I’m about to close his office door when he says, “Hey kid, one more thing.”

I look at him. “Yeah?”

“Be careful who you ask about this stuff. Not everyone will be as nice to you about it as I’ve been.”

“Believe me, I know,” I say before closing the door.


	7. Chapter 7

I leave the police station with even more questions than I had before. It’s just past one in the afternoon, and I’m hungry. I look at the pizza place across the street and dig Billy’s phone number out of my jacket pocket. I walk to the payphone at the corner and dial his number.

On the fourth ring, someone answers. It’s a younger-sounding girl. “Hello?

“Hi,” I say. “Is Billy there?”

“Who’s this?”

“A friend.”

The girl on the other end pauses before saying, “Yeah, he’s here. Hold on.” I think she turns away from the phone because she sounds farther away when she yells, “Billy! There’s a girl on the phone!”

A moment later, Billy picks up the phone. “Hello?”

“Hey,” I say “This is Lux. From last night?”

“Lux.” He sounds surprised. “I wasn’t sure if you were going to call me. What’s going on?”

“I’m downtown and I’m thinking about stopping by that pizza place we were at last night. You wanna join me?”

“Yeah, definitely. I can be there in fifteen minutes. Sound good?”

“Sounds great. I’ll see you in a few minutes.”

I’m sitting on a bench outside the pizza place, people-watching, when Billy pulls up in his Camaro. “Find anything interesting?” He asks as he gets out of the car.

“What?” I think he means at the police station, but I have no idea how he would know that’s where I’d been.

“You’re super focused on those people over there,” He says, using the lit cigarette between his fingers to point to the people I’m staring at.

“Oh, no. Just waiting for some entertainment.” I smile as I add, “Good thing you showed up.”

He grins. “It’s a good thing you called.” As we walk into the pizza place he tells me, “I wasn’t sure if you were going to.”

“Why wouldn’t I?”

“Well, I know you aren’t going to be here long.”

I shrug. “Might as well have a good time while I’m here.” As we sit down at the same table from last night, I ask, “So, how come your family moved here?”

“My dad’s job transferred him here.” He laughs shortly. “Who would have thought any company would need someone to transfer to a place like this?” Then he asks, “Are you still going to tell me you’re here to see family?”

“I’m here to…” I pause before admitting, “I’m here to find a family member.”

“What do you mean?”

I tell a simplified version of the truth. “I grew up around here. I ran away from home when I was twelve years old. I left my younger sister behind, but I’m back to see if I can find her.”

“You don’t remember where you lived before?”

“No, I do.” I know I’ll never be able to forget. Then the lies start coming as I say, “But my family moved a lot. And my sister and I were homeschooled, so there’s no way to check with the middle school to see if she’s still there.”

Billy stares at me again in that way that says he doesn’t quite believe me. But all he asks is, “Why did you run away in the first place? Your parents?”

“My father. He’s… He’s a bad person.”

“Trust me, I know all about that.”

“You’re what, seventeen?” I ask.

Billy nods. “I’m almost eighteen.”

“So, you can leave soon.” I couldn’t wait to leave the Lab. I had no choice. To be honest, I was worried that if I didn’t escape when I did, I’d lose my nerve.

“Why did you leave home when you were so young?” Billy asks me.

“Because I knew that if I didn’t get out then, I never would,” I say honestly.

“It must have been pretty bad for you to be that desperate.”

“You wouldn’t believe me if I told you.”

We sit in the pizza place talking for a few hours until it starts to get dark. As we’re leaving, Billy asks, “Is there anywhere you need me to take you?”

I’m about to ask him if he can drop me off at the motel when I get an idea. “Do you know where the power plant is?”

Twenty minutes later, we drive past a sign that says:

**Government Property. No Trespassing.**

“You can stop here,” I say.

Billy pulls over onto the side of the road. “What do you want with this place?” He asks me.

“I used to know someone who works here,” I say, unbuckling my seatbelt. “This should only take like, twenty minutes. But if you see anyone coming, whether it’s on foot or in a car, get out of here. Forget about me.”

I’m about to open the car door when it locks. I turn to Billy. “What are you doing?”

“Lux, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. I’m just here to see if the person I used to know still works here.”

“Then why are you making me wait here? Why do you want me to leave if I see anyone coming?”

“Because this is the government,” I say honestly. “They don’t take too kindly to strangers.”

“Then isn’t it dangerous for you too?”

I shake my head. “They’ll know who I am when they see me.” The tattoo on my wrist will be a dead giveaway. And I have no doubt that if a Hawkins Lab employee sees me, they have orders to capture or kill me. But I’m hoping to get this done without them seeing me. The darkness, hopefully, will help me go unnoticed. I look at Billy. “Let me out. Please.”

He sighs but unlocks the door. “I’m not leaving here without you,” He tells me.

I get out of the car before he can change his mind. “I’ll be back.”

It’s about a five-minute walk from where Billy stopped the car to the entrance of Hawkins Lab. As I approach the Lab, I stare up at it. The only other time I’ve seen the outside of the Lab is when I was running away from it.

Even though I left five years ago, Hawkins Lab looks the same. The only difference is that there are more armed guards walking around than there had been on the night I escaped.

I’m not planning on attacking tonight. I just want to get a feel for the security measures they’re taking.

I walk along the electric fence. I’m to the right of the booth where two armed guards are sitting, letting cars come in and out of the parking lot. From what I can tell, the guards are all that control who’s allowed past the electric fence and into the Hawkins Lab parking lot. I’ve already checked out the building itself, and it looks like people use plastic cards as keys to get into the building. Getting in looks easy enough, but I have no idea what’s waiting inside.

Suddenly, a hand comes down on my shoulder. I send a shock through whoever it was before turning around.

“Again?” Billy asks. He looks at me as he says, “I know you have control over that.”

I ignore that statement and ask, “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I followed you.”

“You have to get out of here,” I tell him. “It isn’t safe.”

“Yeah, I see.” He points to all the armed guards walking around. “What does a power plant need so much protection from, anyway?”

Before I can respond, a voice behind me asks, “What are you kids doing here?”


	8. Chapter 8

Billy and I slowly turn toward the four guards pointing their guns at us. “I’m sorry,” I say. “Our car broke down. We were looking for a gas station, but I guess we got lost. We’ll go now.” I grab Billy’s hand and look at him, giving him a silent command to keep quiet and follow me.

I try to walk past the guards, but one grabs me by the shoulder and shoves me back. I use both hands to push him away from me, but before I can lower my hands, he grabs my left wrist and looks at my tattoo. He stares at me before turning to the other guards. “Call Owens,” He tells them with a grin. “We just found Test Subject Ten.”

The electric fence is humming behind me, almost like the currents are calling to me. At this point, I’m not worried about exposing my powers. All I’m worried about right now is not dying. I gather the power from the fence and hit the guards with it. They all convulse before collapsing, their bodies now charred black.

I wipe the blood from my nose on the sleeve of my jacket and look at Billy. Before he can say anything, I tell him, “Yes, I did that. I can control electricity. Come on.”

We head back through the woods to his car and he says, “I don’t understand. You just-”

“I’ll explain later,” I tell him. “I swear. But someone is going to realize that those guards haven’t reported back yet, and it’s going to be sooner than later. We have to get out of here.”

Billy grabs my arm and stops walking. “Lux, you need to tell me what’s going on.”

“I will. But not here.”

Thankfully, he doesn’t argue with me.

We end up on the cliff above the quarry, where I get out of the car. I’m about to freak out. That was _way_ too close.

Billy gets out of the car and stands next to me as I stare down at the water. He watches me, and when it’s clear that I’m not going to say anything, he asks me, “What did you do back there, Lux? And don’t say that it was a coincidence or that you carry a lot of static. Tell me the truth.”

“I already told you. I can control electricity.”

He laughs shortly. “I think I’m going to need more of an explanation than that.”

“I can control electricity with my mind. It’s called electrokinesis.”

“That’s all you’re going to tell me?”

I shrug. “There’s a lot more that I could tell you, but it’s a long story.”

Billy leans against the side of the car. “We’ve got time.”

I stand next to him. There’s no way to ease into it, so I say, “My mom was part of this psychological experiment the government did in the sixties. She took a lot of acid for this experiment but she stopped when she found out she was pregnant with me. It was too late, though. The drugs had already affected me. They gave me my abilities. I was born in a normal hospital, and my mom thought I was going to be normal and have a normal life. But when I was a couple of hours old, I had this screaming tantrum, and the hospital lost power.” I look at Billy as I tell him, “Thirteen people died because of me. People on life support or in surgery. Dead. Because of me. I even knocked out the backup generators.”

“That wasn’t your fault,” He tells me. “You weren’t trying to hurt anyone.”

“I still caused those deaths,” I say with a shrug. And I still feel guilty about it. I continue, “Dr. Brenner, the guy who had been in charge of the experiment my mom was a part of, heard about what I did. He came to the hospital and offered to buy me from my mom.” My voice breaks as I say, “My mother sold me to the government.” I pause for a long moment, gathering myself before I keep talking. “Brenner took me to Hawkins Lab and trained me, taught me how to use my powers, for twelve years. And on my twelfth birthday, I escaped the Lab. I went to Chicago, and I planned on never coming back here.”

Billy doesn’t say anything.

“I know it sounds crazy,” I say quietly.

“It does,” He admits. “But I saw what you did to those guards. There’s no denying that.” He’s quiet for a moment before asking, “What made you come back here?”

I don’t say anything.

“Lux,” He says softly. “You can trust me.”

“I am here to look for my sister,” I answer after a moment. “That wasn’t a lie. She and I both grew up in Hawkins Lab. We aren’t actually related, but that’s not important. She’s the closest thing I’ve ever had to a family.” Her and 008. “I heard that a year ago, people around here saw a little girl with a shaved head. We all had shaved heads in the lab. There were multiple reports regarding her. And they said this girl could move things with her mind. She broke a kid’s arm without touching him, she looked at a window in a grocery store and it just shattered. I know it was her. No one has seen her since last November, but Eleven is my sister, so I have to at least try to find her.” I don’t add that I feel like I owe her that much, considering I’d left her in the Lab.

“Eleven? That’s her name?” Billy asks.

I nod.

He watches me for a second before asking, “That guard called you Subject Ten or something, didn’t he?”

I nod again.

He reaches over and grabs my left hand, looking at my tattoo. “Ten. That’s what they called you?”

I nod, and I can’t help how bitter I sound as I say, “They gave me a number instead of a name and made sure to label me in _permanent_ ink.”

“They treated you like animals.” It’s not a question.

“Like lab rats,” I confirm. I pause before admitting, “By the way, you were right about me stopping your car.”

Billy smirks. “I knew it.”

“You would have hit me if I didn’t,” I point out.

“Well, I’m glad I didn’t.”

I laugh. “Despite the fact that you almost hit me with your car, I like you.”

I don’t know what happens next. All I know is one second we’re standing next to each other, and the next second my back is pressed against the side of the car, and Billy is kissing me.

But he pulls away and says, “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have-”

“You don’t have anything to be sorry for,” I tell him.

He kisses me again, sliding his hands under my shirt. We spend a long time kissing against his car. But after a while, Billy tells me, “We should get going. My dad will throw a fit if I come home too late.”

He drives me back to the motel and I keep replaying us at the quarry in my head. It was nice to be kissed by him. We stuck to just kissing, although his hands drifted under my shirt a few times. But he didn’t push me to go further, and that was nice. It was nice to be kissed by a guy who didn’t think that us kissing was an invitation for him to do more. I’m not a virgin. I haven’t been for a while. But I’m so sick of guys expecting sex because I went to a movie with them, or even because I smiled at them or made eye contact with them. I’m so sick of guys using me, and it’s nice to find a guy who isn’t like that.

Billy looks over at me. “You look happy,” He comments. “What are you thinking about?”

I smile as I turn away from the window to look at him. “I’m happy because I’ve finally found a good guy.”


	9. Chapter 9

_October 26, 1984_

On Friday morning, I wake up with one thing on my mind: Getting into Hawkins Lab.

I was thinking about it last night, and I think that it will be easy enough. My escape plan worked five years ago, and my plan to get in would be very similar. I’m going to cause a power outage. I don’t know if 011 is in the Lab, but the only way to find out is to go straight to the source itself. I’m going to have to get onto the level of Hawkins Lab where the test subjects are kept. I don’t know which level that is, but that’s the only problem I can think of.

I don’t waste much time taking a shower and getting dressed. I want to get this over with. I’m afraid that if I don’t, I’m going to lose my nerve.

After over an hour of walking, Hawkins Lab comes into view. I go around to the back fence, which is the closest to the entrance and farthest from the guard booth.

I’m not totally sure what my plan is, but I know that I don’t want to immediately shut the power to the whole place down. That would put everyone on alert. I want to be sneaky about this.

No one coming in and out of the building seems to be paying much attention to each other, so I take a chance and decide to try just walking in. I climb over the fence and wait near the side of the building, waiting for my chance. When a group of five or six people heads toward the doors, I start walking and catch up to them, going through the doors with them.

Are things really going to be this easy?

No. Of course not.

In the lobby, a security guard with a clipboard stops me. “Are you a visitor?” He asks.

I press my left arm against my side in an effort to hide my tattoo as I say, “Yes, I am.”

“Can I see your ID please?”

I don’t have an ID, but I feel my pockets anyway, saying, “Uh, I don’t have it with me. I must have left it in the car.” And even though I know it’s risky, I still say, “Obviously I’m allowed to be here. I mean, the guards let me through, didn’t they?”

“I still need to see your ID.”

“Of course. I’ll go get it,” I say before turning around and going back outside. The moment I get outside, I go back to the side of the building and climb the fence.

I can’t stick around. Sure, I can easily kill everyone in that building, but I don’t want to. Not unless I have to.

I climb over the fence and run into the forest. I don’t stop running until I’m sure I’m not being followed. I come to a clearing and sit down on a rock, sighing in frustration. Of course things aren’t going to be easy. I was stupid to think I’d be able to break into Hawkins Lab.

And I’m starting to realize that I am in way in over my head.

By the time I make it back to the motel, I feel like I could cry. What was I thinking, coming here to try to find someone the government has been keeping hidden? There’s no record of her existence. And somehow I thought I’d be able to find her?

I go into my motel room and take another shower and by the time I get out, I decide that I’m giving up the search for 011. Even if she isn’t in the Lab anymore, the chances of her being anywhere near Hawkins are next to nothing. I have no idea what I’m going to do next, but I do know that the search for my sister is hopeless.

I stare at myself in the mirror as I brush my hair. I have a cut going across my right cheek, from where a branch smacked me in the face during the walk back from Hawkins Lab. And maybe it’s vain, but I can’t help being pissed that I ruined my face for nothing.

All of this had been for nothing.

I need a break from my life. So, I call Billy. He’s the one who answers the phone this time, and I immediately ask him, “Do you have a way to get beer?” I pause before adding, “Any alcohol will do, really.” I don’t care how I get drunk, just that I do get drunk.

“Hi, Lux. Are you ok?”

“I’m fine. But it’s Friday and I feel like having some fun tonight.”

“I can get beer,” Billy tells me. “My dad keeps a stockpile of it.”

“Sounds good,” I say. “I was thinking we can go hang out at the quarry?” While I’m certainly not above inviting a guy to my place, I don’t want to spend any time more than necessary in this room. Besides that, while we were on the cliff overlooking the quarry last night, not a single car drove by. The road looked like it hadn’t been used much, which isn’t surprising since there’s nothing but forest for miles around. It seems like a good place to go when you need to think, or in my case, when you need to try to forget something.

“I can come get you around four-thirty. I have to pick up my stepsister from the arcade at four.”

“I can meet you at your place,” I suggest.

“All right.” Billy gives me his address, and we talk for a few more minutes before hanging up.

I smile to myself as I put the phone down. A night of getting drunk and having some fun is just what I need.


	10. Chapter 10

A few minutes after four o’clock, I’m sitting on the front steps at Billy’s house. I’m tearing a leaf into tiny pieces when the Camaro pulls into the driveway. I stand up when Billy walks over, and he tells me, “I’m gonna get the beer, and then we’ll get out of here.”

I grin. “Sounds great.”

He goes inside and a redheaded girl, who I’m assuming is his stepsister, gets out of the car. I’m pretty sure Billy told me her name is Max. She walks over to me and asks, “You’re the girl he’s taking out tonight?”

“Yep.”

“And you’re the one who called him yesterday?”

I nod.

She stares at me before asking, “What happened to your face?”

It’s kind of a weird question, but I tell her, “Tree branch. I guess walking through the woods is more dangerous than I realized.”

Max watches me for a moment before telling me, “You seem nice, so I’m going to give you a warning. Billy is not a good guy. Let me guess, you think he’s nice, right?”

I don’t respond. So far, Billy has been nothing but nice. Yeah, he was yelling at me when we first met, but considering the circumstances, I can’t blame him for that. I had turned off his car with my mind. He had been freaked out, and I know I would have reacted the same way. He’s not like any of the guys I was with in Chicago. He hasn’t taken a swing at me or even picked a fight with me. He’s driven me home twice now and hasn’t locked the car when I tried to get out, asking me when I’m going to finally screw him.

So, yes, I do think he’s nice.

Max goes on, “He’s only acting nice because he wants you to sleep with him. And once he gets what he wants, he’ll either start treating you like shit or if you’re lucky, he’ll forget all about you. And I’m not telling you this to be mean, it’s just the truth. I’ve seen him do it to a million different girls.”

I don’t say anything. This is Billy’s stepsister. Siblings hate each other. It’s just a fact of life. Maybe he is mean to her, but that’s how most siblings are. Besides that, kids tend to exaggerate.

“You don’t believe me, do you?”

I shrug. “I believe you guys don’t get along. But most siblings don’t, right?”

“Do you have any siblings?”

“I do. I have two sisters.” Two sisters who I’ve given up hope of ever seeing again.

“How old are they?”

“One is three years older than me, and the other is about your age.”

“Do you and your sisters fight?”

I shake my head. “We’ve never fought,” I say honestly.

"Well, you're lucky. Most siblings fight sometimes, or a lot, but they still care about each other.” Max pauses before saying, “Billy hates me, though. He has since the moment we met. I don't know why.”

I don’t know what to say to that.

“Just be careful with him, ok?”

“Sure.”

Billy comes back outside then, and asks me, “You ready?”

I nod. “Let’s go.” I look at Max and say, “It was nice meeting you.”

In the car, Billy holds up a six-pack of beer and asks, “You ready to have a good time?”

I grin in response.

“It’s pretty down there,” I say as I look at the water in the quarry below us. “I wish I could swim in it.”

“You like swimming?” Billy asks me.

“I like looking at the water, but I don’t swim much.” I take a sip of my beer before explaining, “I have complete control over my powers, but I’m terrified that the one time I lose control, it will be in a pool full of people or something like that.” And it would be just like the hospital all over again.

“Have you ever been to the beach?”

“No. I went straight from Hawkins Lab to Chicago. I haven’t made it to the beach yet. I would love to someday, though.”

“But even if you went, you wouldn’t go in the ocean?”

I shrug. "Probably not, which is too bad. I've always wanted to try surfing." I look at Billy. "Did you ever surf? When you lived in California?"

He’s quiet for a moment before saying, "No.” Then he asks, “Are you going to tell me what happened to your face?”

“I got hit by a tree branch when I was walking through the forest earlier. I tried to push it out of my face, it came flying right back at me.”

“What were you doing in the forest?”

“I went back to Hawkins Lab,” I admit.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going?”

“I don’t want you involved. Asking you to take me yesterday was a mistake. Those guys will not hesitate to kill you.” I grab his keys from where they’re sitting on the dashboard and open another bottle. I tilt my head back and drink before saying, “Anyway, it doesn’t matter. I’ve given up on finding my sister.”

Billy glances at me.

“Don’t worry,” I tell him. “I’m fine.”

“If you want to talk about it-”

“I don’t. I just want to forget about it.”

He watches me for a long time before quietly saying, “I’m sorry for what you went through.”

“You don’t need to apologize. The only ones who should be apologizing are the people who work in Hawkins Lab.” I pause before I admit, “Sometimes I think that I should start an electrical fire. Just burn the whole place down. Everyone would think it was an accident. And if there are other kids in there still, death would be a mercy for them.”

“Did you want to die? When you were in there?”

I stare at the water below. "Yes. Well, not exactly. It's not like I was suicidal." I try to figure out how to explain things before saying, "It's just that I was so desperate to get out. To make it all stop. And if dying was the only option..." I shrug. "I wouldn't have minded." I’ve never admitted that out loud. Not that I’ve really had a chance to. "Even before I started questioning things, before I ever thought about escaping, I wasn't happy. I wasn't a person. I had never been a person. I was a weapon, and that’s all I’d ever be. And even though I was only a kid and didn't understand anything about the world, I still understood enough to know that my life sucked.”

“I know how that feels,” Billy tells me. “Obviously not to the extent that you do, but I know the feeling. I told you that my dad’s an asshole, but that doesn’t even begin to describe him. And it took me so long to realize that it wasn’t normal. I thought all kids are terrified of their dads.” He laughs bitterly before continuing, “When I was a kid, I had so many chances to tell someone, to ask for help. But every time someone asked me about my dad, or a bruise, or whatever, I’d lie.” Billy is quiet as he adds, “I wish I hadn’t.”

“Why don’t you ask someone for help now?”

He looks at me. “I think we both know that you can ask for help, but that doesn’t mean you’re going to get it.”

I know that all too well. All I say is, “I’m sorry.”

“If I don’t have anything to apologize for, neither do you.”

We sit in the Camaro for hours, long after we’ve finished our beers. I look through the windshield, at the sky. “The stars out here are beautiful,” I say. “You can’t see them at all in Chicago.” I get out of the car to get a better look at the sky. Billy gets out of the car, too, and stands next to me. “Could you see the stars in San Diego?” I ask him.

“Not so much where I lived. There were too many lights. But on the beach, yeah, you could see them really well.”

“I remember the first time I saw the stars. I escaped from the Lab at night, and when I looked up, there they were. I’d heard about them before, but no description could have ever come close.” Even the illusions 008 had made for me couldn’t compare to the real thing. I look at Billy and ask, “So, are you ever going to kiss me again? Or was last night just a one-time thing?”

Billy laughs. “I was waiting for the right time, but I guess patience isn’t your strong suit.”

I shake my head. “It’s not. I’m used to getting what I want when I want it.”

“Well, I wouldn’t want to disappoint you,” He says before kissing me.

We kiss for a minute before I reach back and my hand finds the handle to the car door. I open the door and only stop kissing Billy long enough to pull the front seat forward and get in the back of the Camaro, shrugging my jacket off.

I lay down across the backseat and Billy is on top of me. He pulls my shirt over my head, and I unbutton his. Once his shirt is unbuttoned, he takes it off as he asks, “Are you sure you want to do this?”

“I’m sure.”


	11. Chapter 11

_October 29, 1984_

I don’t hear from Billy again until Monday. I expected that, though. When he dropped me off at the motel on Friday night, he told me that since his dad and stepmom have weekends off, he’d probably have to stay home to unpack, and warned me not to call since his dad likes to be the one to answer the phone. He also told me that he’d be starting school on Monday, so when someone knocks on my door at nine on Monday morning, I’m surprised to see him when I open the door. “Hey. Shouldn’t you be at school?”

“My school in Calfornia didn’t transfer my records, so I get today off,” Billy tells me.

“Well, that’s lucky. You wanna come in?”

“Sure.”

Billy walks into the room as I carefully ask, “How were things this weekend?”

“Not as bad as they could have been. How was your weekend?”

I shrug. “All right. There were a lot of horror movies on tv. I watched all of them.”

“You like scary movies?”

“It depends on the movie itself. Some horror movies are good, but a lot are terrible. Especially slasher movies. If you’ve seen one, you’ve seen them all.”

“My stepsister likes the slasher movies,” Billy tells me. “I think she’s dressing up as Michael Myers this year.”

I watch Billy, who’s looking at the stack of books on my nightstand. I brought a big stack of books with me from Chicago. I would have brought more, but I ran out of room in my bag. “You don’t talk about Max much,” I say carefully.

He shrugs. “There’s not a lot to talk about.”

“She and I talked a bit on Friday. She seems nice.”

Billy looks at me. “I meant to ask, what did she say to you?”

I shrug. “She was just asking me if I liked going to the arcade. I told her about how I worked at the arcade down the street from my apartment in Chicago.”

“I didn’t know you worked at an arcade.”

“We don’t know much about each other at all,” I point out. A reminder to both of us. Because I haven’t been able to stop thinking about what Max told me.

Billy slides his arms around my waist as he says, “I think we got to know got to know each other pretty well on Friday night.”

I smile a bit. “I won’t argue with that.”

He smirks and asks, “Why don’t we get to know each other even better?”

“Sounds good to me,” I say before kissing him.

We end up spending most of the day the same way we’d spent Friday night. Not that I’m complaining. Besides, the bed is much more comfortable than the back of a car.

It’s almost four o’clock when we leave the motel and go get food. I’m sick of pizza, so we go to a diner instead. When we’re waiting for our food, Billy asks, “ Have you changed your mind since Friday?”

“About what?”

“Finding your sister.”

I shake my head.

He studies my face for a moment before slowly saying, “I know you said you don’t want to talk about it, but what happened? I mean, what made you give up?”

“I realized how stupid I was being,” I answer quietly. “How stupid I was to think that I could go up against the American government.”

“You’re more powerful than they are.”

“Physically, I’m more powerful than a lot of the employees,” I agree. “But Hawkins Lab could still destroy me. They created me. No one knows how to fight me better than they do.” I don’t mention that most of my own powers are a mystery to me. Brenner didn’t tell me a lot about my powers, and the fact that he knows more about them than I do is enough to make me think twice about taking him on. I shrug as I add, “I knew from the beginning that I probably wouldn’t find her.”

“What’s your plan now? Are you taking off early, or are you still going to stick around for a couple of weeks?”

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. My original plan was to stay here for two weeks to look for 011. But now that I’ve given up my search, there’s nothing keeping me here. Nothing except Billy. But I can’t base my decision off one guy.

“When you do leave, if you leave, promise me you’ll say goodbye first.”

“I promise.”

We’ve been in the diner for a while when Billy looks at the clock on the wall and mutters, “Shit.”

“What’s wrong?”

“I was supposed to pick up Max from the arcade ten minutes ago.” He looks at me. “I’ll take you back to your place after I drop her off at home, all right?”

“Yeah, that’s fine.”

In the car, Billy tells me, “I’m sorry we have to do things this way. But my stepmom gets home at six, and if I don’t have Max home when my stepmom gets home, Susan will have a meltdown. Then when my dad gets home fifteen minutes later, he’ll find out. It will be this big thing and I’d rather not deal with any of it tonight.”

“It’s ok,” I tell him. “I don’t mind. I mean, it’s not like I have anything I’m missing.”

“I just hate that they all have to make things so difficult.”

When we pull up in front of the arcade, Max is standing out front. “Have her get in the backseat,” Billy tells me as she walks around to the passenger side of the car.

When I get out of the car, Max looks surprised to see me, but she doesn’t say anything as she gets in the back. The drive is quiet for a few minutes before she asks me, “So, if he hasn’t forgotten about you after Friday night, does this mean he’s treating you like shit now?”

I recall our conversation from Friday night, and ask her, “What makes you think-”

“I’m not stupid. I know what it means when two people disappear with a case of beer and one of those people doesn’t come home until two in the morning.”

“Max,” Billy warns in a low voice.

I glance at Billy, looking for any signs of the person Max warned me about. He’s staring straight ahead at the road, but I can see that he’s pissed.

When we pull into the driveway at their house, there’s a redheaded woman standing on the front porch. Even from the distance, I can see her nervous expression as she wrings her hands.

“Great,” Billy says flatly. “Susan’s here to make sure we got home safely.”

I let Max out of the car and watch her brush past her mom and go into the house when Billy comes up next to me. “Stay here,” He tells me. “I’m going to tell her that I’m taking you home.” He goes over to her and they talk for a moment, and he comes back over to me. “She wants to meet you.”

“Ok.”

As we walk over to her, he puts his hand on my lower back and quietly tells me, “Just go along with whatever I say.”

I can see his stepmom taking me in. She looks like a nice woman. Nice women are scared of me. I can see her taking in the denim jacket over my Led Zeppelin shirt, my half-destroyed jeans held up by a studded belt, my black Dr. Martens, and the red lipstick and dark eye makeup. I know what she’s thinking. She’s thinking that I’m not a nice girl. And she’s right.

Even so, when Billy and I step onto the porch, she smiles at me and holds out her hand. “Hi, I’m Susan.”

“Lux,” I say, shaking her hand. “It’s nice to meet you.”

“It’s good to see that the kids are already making friends,” She says. “Do you live nearby?”

“Lux lives on the outside of town,” Billy answers for me. “And I really should be getting her home.” I’m not looking at him, but I can hear the nervousness in his voice.

“Are you sure you can’t stay for dinner?” Susan asks me. Billy’s hand is still on my lower back, and I can feel him tense up as Susan goes on, “I just made so much food, and I don’t want it to go to waste.”

“Tell my dad I’ll be back before seven,” Billy says.

“Your dad isn’t going to be home for dinner,” Susan tells him. “He has to work late. He said not to expect him home until sometime around midnight.”

The hand on my back immediately relaxes as Billy glances down at me. “Are you sure you have to go home right now?”

I realize he’s giving me a choice, and I smile as I tell Susan, “I would love to stay for dinner.”


	12. Chapter 12

We eat dinner at a small wooden table in the kitchen, and Susan asks me, “Are you sure you don’t need to call home and tell your parents where you are?”

I know that she’s trying to feel me out. Figure out what kind of home life I have, how I’ve been raised, what kind of person I am. I shake my head as I tell her, “My dad works nights, and it’s just the two of us. So, there’s no need for me to call home.” It scares me sometimes, how easy it is for me to lie. But I’ve known from the beginning that if I want to survive outside of Hawkins Lab, I need to be a good liar.

“And you’re a student at the high school?”

“Yes,” I say, since it seems like the easiest answer.

“What grade are you in?”

“I’m a junior.”

Then Susan asks a question I don’t know how to answer. “How did you and Billy meet?”

I look at Billy. We definitely can’t tell the truth about how I used my powers to turn off his car.

“We met at the pizza place I went to last week,” Billy answers.

Throughout dinner, as I answer Susan’s questions, keeping track of all the lies I tell her, I can’t help thinking that no matter how normal things feel at the moment, my life will never be normal. I can pretend, but my life has never been normal, and it never will be. And the idea of that bothers me more than I want to admit.

After dinner, I help Susan wash the dishes while Billy and Max clear the table. “You know, Billy has never had a girl over for dinner before,” Susan tells me quietly. I glance at her as she goes on, “I have to admit, I was a bit… apprehensive when I saw you getting out of his car. You look like the other girls I’ve seen him with.” She pauses before saying, “But you act nothing like them. It’s good. Billy needs a nice girl in his life. Someone who can be a good influence.”

I can’t help smiling. No one has ever called me nice before.

Billy comes over and grabs my hand as he tells Susan, “Lux and I are going to my room. She’s going to help me catch up with some stuff for school. That way I won’t be completely lost whenever I start.”

“Do we have to go to school tomorrow?” Max asks her mom.

“I called both of your schools earlier this afternoon," Susan answers. “They still haven’t received your records from your schools in California. So right now, the answer is no.”

Billy doesn’t say anything as he leads me out of the kitchen, and I say to Susan, “Thank you for dinner. It was nice meeting you.”

In Billy’s room, I sit down on the bed as he puts a tape in the stereo. “So, Susan seems nice,” I say. Other than Friday night, Billy hasn’t told me a lot about himself. And I have to admit, it kind of bothers me. Especially with everything I’ve told him about myself.

Scorpions starts playing and Billy sits down next to me. “She’s ok.”

"She doesn't exactly seem like the evil stepmother-type."

"No, she's just the annoying stepmother-type."

I don’t say anything. I know that a lot of people don’t like their stepparents, but the way Billy talks about her seems to go way past being annoyed with her.

He starts pulling my jacket off as he kisses me. “But enough about that.”

I take my jacket off as I kiss him back. After a few minutes, he pushes me onto my back and I say, “Hold on.”

“What’s wrong?”

“Your stepmom and stepsister are home.”

“So?”

“So, I’m not letting you screw me when there are other people here.”

“I’ll turn the music up.”

I stare at him. “Are you kidding me?”

“Lux-”

“Look, I know some people have no problem doing that, but I’m not one of those people, ok?”

“Ok.” Billy watches me for a moment before saying, "So, based on what Max said in the car, I'm guessing you guys weren't talking about the arcade?"

Are we seriously back on this? "The things she said weren't very nice," I say with a shrug. "I didn't think it was worth telling you."

Billy winds my hair through his fingers as he asks, “Why don’t you stay here tonight?”

“I don’t know,” I say slowly.

“Why not? I don't have to go to school tomorrow and it's not like my dad is going to come in here to check up on me."

"I already told you, I'm not having-"

"Not for that, Lux. I just don't like the thought of you in that motel.”

“You have no idea how much I hate it there.” I kiss him as I say, “Thank you so much for letting me stay here tonight.” I’m not used to having people care about me. Admittedly, it’s kind of my fault, since I never let anyone get close to me. But having someone care about me, having someone that I care about… It’s nice.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry for the lack of updates lately! My A/C stopped working last week, and since I live in Las Vegas and melt in any weather over 75 degrees, getting the A/C fixed was my first priority (and it took a ridiculously long time). But everything seems to be fixed, so hopefully, I can get back to regular updates.


	13. Chapter 13

_October 30, 1984_

I wake up when someone starts knocking on the door. I’m laying on my stomach and push myself up on my left elbow, sliding my right arm out from under the pillow to look at my watch. It’s barely six in the morning.

I look at Billy, who’s awake and laying on his back. “You’ve got to be kidding me,” He mumbles. When the knocking starts again, he gets up and opens the door. “What is it, Susan?”

“You and Maxine have school today.”

I pull the covers over my head, half in an attempt to hide from Susan, and half because I’m freezing. Last night, Billy gave me a long-sleeved thermal shirt and a pair of flannel pajama pants, but I’ve never handled the cold well.

Billy sounds annoyed as he says, “I thought they didn’t have our records yet.”

“They received them last night. You both have to be there by seven-thirty.”

Billy doesn’t respond as he closes the door. When he lays down next to me, I say, “I wish I could go to school.”

He looks at me like I’m crazy, but he asks, “Why don’t you enroll yourself, then?”

“There is no record of my existence. I can’t go to school, I can’t get a job that doesn’t pay in cash, I can’t get a driver’s license. Basically, I can’t do anything that requires an ID or social security number.”

“Those people at the Lab really ruined your life, didn’t they?”

“Before it even began.”

“So, why don’t you ruin theirs?”

“Maybe someday.” I turn onto my side to look at him. “Shouldn’t you be getting ready for school?”

“Probably. I don’t know how I’m gonna get you back to your place.”

I shrug. “I’ll walk. It’s no big deal.”

“It’s a long walk.”

“And I’ll survive just fine.”

“It’s a bad part of town. I don’t like you walking by yourself around there.”

I can’t help myself as I laugh. “The only danger I’ve run into over there was when I met you and you almost hit me with your car,” I point out. “And look at how I handled that. If anyone gives me any trouble, I will absolutely destroy them.”

“You could have destroyed me.”

“Of course. No doubt about it.”

“So, I guess I have to remember to never piss you off.” Billy is quiet for a moment before asking, “Did you use your powers to keep your other boyfriends in line?”

‘Other boyfriends’. I smile to myself. Billy considers himself my boyfriend. “You are the only person I’ve ever told,” I answer.

“Seriously?”

“Seriously.”

“You didn’t have a choice. I mean, you were kind of forced into it when those guards found us at the Lab.” He looks at me. “Would you have told me? If it was your choice?”

I think about it for a moment. “I think I would have,” I say honestly. “Not when I did. I mean, I don’t trust people very easily. But I do trust you, and I eventually would have made the choice to tell you.”

“Thank you for trusting me, Lux.”

I kiss him. “Thank you for being someone I can trust.”


	14. Chapter 14

_October 31, 1984_

On Wednesday afternoon, I’m sitting on the Hargrove’s front steps when Billy’s Camaro pulls into the driveway. Max gets out of the car and slams the door. She doesn’t look back at Billy, even when he yells at her for slamming the door. As Max unlocks the front door, she tells me, “He’s crazy. He’s going to get himself killed. He almost got me and three others killed just now.”

I get up as I ask, “What are you talking about?”

Billy walks up the steps as Max says, “Just don’t get in a car with him.” Then she storms into the house.

Billy comes up behind me and wraps his arms around my waist as I ask, “Is she always so cryptic?” Every conversation I’ve had with her so far has been cryptic like that.

“Because she knows she’s making a big deal out of nothing.”

I turn my head and look at him. “What’s her problem, anyway?”

“She says I almost hit a group of kids on the way home. She’s exaggerating, though. I didn’t come anywhere close, and it would have been her fault anyway. I was distracted because she was being a bitch.”

“You shouldn’t call your little sister a bitch,” I say quietly.

“She’s not my sister,” He says sharply.

I shrug. “Sister, stepsister. Same difference.”

“No, Lux, it isn’t. She is _not_ my sister.”

“All right, I’m sorry.” I don’t see what the big deal is, but I drop it.

Billy steps away from me and lights a cigarette. “There’s some party going on tonight,” He tells me. “Pretty much the entire school is going.”

“Are you?”

“Only if you come.”

“Any word on the drink situation?”

“Well, the flyers say ‘Come get sheet-faced’.”

“It sounds like my kind of party,” I say with a grin.

At six o’clock, Billy and I are in his room, and we’re getting ready to leave for the party. It’s kind of early, but he and Max, who we’re taking to meet her friends, both want to leave before his dad gets home.

I’m sitting on Billy’s bed and I watch him put on a leather jacket, asking, “No shirt?”

He winks at me as he says, “I thought I’d give you something nice to look at.”

“I’ve seen better,” I say with a smirk.

Billy laughs as he leans down to kiss me. “You sure know how to build someone up.”

My mouth is still against his as I tell him, “Your ego is already big enough. You don’t need my help with that.”

A car door slams outside and Billy pulls away from me and looks out the window. “My dad’s home,” He says. “The first thing he does every night is grab a beer. Hopefully we can sneak past him.” He pulls me up and we go out into the hallway.

Max is already in the hallway, and she whispers, “He’s early.”

“So, let’s go,” Billy tells her impatiently.

We’re almost as the front door when a voice behind us asks, “Billy, who’s your friend?”

We all turn around, and there’s a man standing in the living room, holding an open can of beer. I don’t know what I was expecting Billy’s dad to look like, but it isn’t this. He looks so… normal. And yet it’s obvious that everyone in this house is afraid of him.

Billy’s hand is on my arm, and his grip tightens. I don’t think he realizes that he’s doing it. “Dad, this is Lux,” He says stiffly.

“Neil, Lux is the girl I told you about,” Susan tells him. “The one who stayed for dinner on Monday night.”

“Really?” Neil looks at me, assessing me.

I hold his stare, but I don’t say anything.

After a moment he steps forward and holds out his hand. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to meet you the other night, Lux. I’m Mr. Hargrove.” He barely looks Billy’s way as he says, “Susan says you’re a nice girl. If that’s true, I don’t know what you’re doing running around with my son.”

I have so many responses to that, but I know that he’s laying out a trap of some kind. Luckily, I know how to play this game. So, all I say is, “It’s nice to meet you.” I shake Neil’s hand and send a jolt of electricity into his hand and up his arm.

He jumps and pulls away.

“Sorry,” I say. “I seem to carry a lot of static. I’m always getting shocked or shocking people.”

Billy’s hand on my arm tightens again. This time, I know he’s doing it on purpose. He’s warning me. “If you don’t mind, we need to go now,” He tells his dad.

“Of course,” Neil says. “Go ahead. Just remember, I want you both home by ten. No later.”

None of us say anything as we turn and hurry out the door.


	15. Chapter 15

We drive in silence for a few minutes before Max asks me from the backseat, “How did you do that?”

I turn to look at her. “Do what?”

“Shock him like that.”

“I already said, I carry a lot of static.”

“Yeah, but that’s just static. I mean…” She trails off. I know she doesn’t believe me, but what else can she say?

Billy pulls over at the corner where Max is meeting her friends, and tells her, “I’ll be back here at nine fifty. If you aren’t here, you can walk home. Now get out.”

Max doesn’t say anything as she gets out of the car, but she does flip Billy off after slamming the door.

Billy sighs. “I really wish that her mom would drive her somewhere for once. She always complains about the way I drive anyway.”

“Max or her mom?”

“Both.”

I think about what Max said earlier, and how Billy said she was exaggerating. I want to ask him about it, but considering the way that conversation went earlier, I decide against it. Instead, I tell him, “I forgot to mention earlier that I paid for another week in the motel.”

Billy looks at me. “You decided to stay?”

“For now.”

“Listen,” He says. “I know you don’t know how long you’re going to stay in Hawkins, but as long as you’re here, I want to be with you. Only you.”

“Isn’t that what we’re already doing?”

“Yeah, but I just wanted to make sure it’s official.”

“Well, it’s official,” I say with a grin.

When we get to the party, the entire street is lined with cars parked on both sides. There are people everywhere, and most of them look drunk or well on their way to drunk.

“This looks like my kind of party,” I say as we get out of the car.

“I have to admit, it’s more than I expected in a place like Hawkins,” Billy tells me.

As we walk into the house, I see more than a few people watching us, and I drily ask, “Have you made yourself a lot of friends?”

He smirks as he puts his arm around my waist. “I might have made a bit of an impression in my two days at Hawkins High School.”

I laugh. “I wouldn’t expect anything different.” Inside, we immediately head for the kitchen, where I look into the punch bowl. “You think it’s spiked?” I ask.

“Let’s find out.”

I get a cup of the punch and drink. “It definitely is,” I say before getting more.

We spend the first hour walking around, talking to different people. Billy introduces me to every single person we talk to as his girlfriend. For those who ask where I’m from, I say that I just moved to Hawkins from Chicago, which is close enough to the truth, and that I won’t be going to the high school since I’m homeschooled.

After about the hundredth person we’ve talked to walks away, I ask Billy, “Why do you laugh every time I tell someone I’m homeschooled?”

“You know homeschooled kids are notoriously weird, right?”

I shrug. “Why do you think I’m telling everyone that? It sounds way more interesting than someone who just doesn’t bother to show up for school.”

He grabs my hand as he leads me outside and asks, “Have I ever told you how much I love your mind?”

“I’m pretty sure it was the first nice thing you said to me.”

“We should get out of here soon,” Billy tells me. “Find somewhere we can be alone.”

I kiss him. “Sounds good.” I look over at the keg, where a bunch of guys are doing kegstands. “What is it about guys that makes them feel like they have to do that at every party ever?” I ask.

“Can you do one?”

I laugh. “Please.” I look at Billy, who’s grinning, and say, “Let me guess, you’re good at them?”

He shrugs. “I don’t like to brag.”

I roll my eyes. “Yeah, right. Go show off. I know you want to.”

Billy’s kegstand lasts forty-two seconds, which beats the old record. “That’s how you do it, Hawkins!” He yells. “That’s how you do it!”

Inside the house, Billy and some guy in a Karate Kid costume are talking to a guy who I’m pretty sure is dressed as Tom Cruise's character from Risky Business. “Looks like we’ve got ourselves a new keg king, Harrington,” The Karate Kid-guy says.

The Harrington guy stares at Billy, and the girl next to him, who I’m assuming is his girlfriend since she’s wearing another Risky Business outfit, rolls her eyes and goes into the kitchen.

I figure that Billy is going to want to spend some time celebrating his status as Hawkin’s newest keg king, and I go into the kitchen to find another drink. Preferably something without alcohol. Whatever is in that punch is strong. Even for me.

The Risky Business girl is saying something to a guy in a toga made from a bedsheet. In response, he drowns a cup of punch and yells, “Pure fuel! Pure! Fuel!” He walks away, and she stares into the punch bowl.

“It’s some strong stuff,” I warn her. “I know every lightweight says this, but I can usually handle my alcohol. But that? Two cups and I’m at my limit.”

She watches me for a moment before saying, “You don’t seem that drunk.”

“Not yet.” I lean against the counter in front of me as I say. “But if I have any more of that stuff, any control I have is going to fly out the window.”

The girl stares at my left wrist for a moment before asking, “Where did you get that tattoo?”

I look at her. She’s looking at me weird, kind of like the woman who’d given me a ride to the police station last week looked at me. I can’t help saying out loud, “Wow, people around here are really freaked out by teenagers with tattoos, huh?” I shrug as I add, “I got it when I was drunk.”

Billy comes over then, and puts his arm around me as he asks, “You ready to go?”

“You don’t want to celebrate your new status as keg king?” I’m so used to being with guys who care about partying more than me, that I can’t believe he’s ready to leave after barely an hour here.

“I’d rather go somewhere where we can hang out.”

“Let’s get out of here.” I turn back to the girl I was talking to, but she’s holding a cup of the punch in her hand and arguing with her boyfriend.

As we walk outside, Billy asks, “Should we go to the quarry?”

“Sure.” It’s kind of become our go-to spot. It’s a good one, too. We haven’t seen another car up there yet. I can’t help smirking a bit as I ask, “What are we going to do when we get up there?”

He laughs. “Don’t worry, I have a few ideas.”

We’re on the gravel road leading to the cliff above the quarry when Billy tells me, “I have to make sure we leave here by nine-thirty. Normally I’d make Max walk home for earlier, but my dad’s been in an even worse mood than usual lately.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

He shakes his head. “I’ve got other things on my mind.” He glances at me as he adds, “Way better things.”

“What kind of things?”

Billy smirks, and I’m convinced that he knows how that smirk gets to me. “I’m thinking about everything I’m going to do to you when I stop the car.” When I don’t say anything, he asks, “Don’t you want to know what I’m going to do?”

“I’d rather have you show me.”

He laughs. “I like that idea better.” He stops the car on the cliff, and we waste no time getting into the backseat.

Later on, as we leave the quarry, I look out at the water and remember for the first time that a body had been found down there. And it reminds me that as much as I’d like to pretend everything is good, I’m only a few miles away from Hawkins Lab. Potentially, I’m only a few miles away from 011.

I lay awake in my bed for hours after Billy drops me off, thinking about everything I’ve heard regarding what happened last year. I think about Will Byers and the body in the quarry that wasn’t his. I think about Barbara Holland, the girl Murray Bauman is looking for. For the first time in five days, I let myself think about 011. I let myself think about Hawkins Lab, and the lies they’ve told and the secrets they’ve kept.

There’s a tiny voice, barely a whisper in my head, telling me that somehow these things are all connected. But I don’t know how to put the pieces of this puzzle together.

And as I keep thinking about it, I realize that I can’t give up the search for 011. Not yet.


	16. Chapter 16

_November 2, 1984_

On Friday afternoon, I’m waiting on the Hargrove’s front porch for Billy. I spent all day yesterday at the library, as well as all day today, going through old newspapers in an effort to find anything about what happened last year. So far, everything I found has been information that I already knew.

When Billy gets home, I stand up as he walks over. He kisses me and says, “I’ll get the drinks, then we’ll leave.”

“I’ll be waiting.”

He goes inside, and I look at Max. “Hey.”

“Hi,” She says, staring at the ground.

“You ok?”

She glances at the front door before quietly telling me, “It’s nothing. Just some jerks at school.”

“You wanna talk about it?”

“There’s not much to say. I thought they wanted to be my friend, but they keep leaving me out of things and keeping secrets.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah. One of them said it’s because they already have a girl in their party. El, or something.”

“Party?”

“It’s what they call their group. I think it’s from some game. He said that El is their mage.”

El… Mage… I don’t know what game this is, but I’ve read enough fantasy books to know that a mage is someone with magic powers. I don’t know if being able to control things with your mind counts as magic, but I’d say it’s about as close as you can get in this world. And if 011 is out of the Lab, I doubt she’s going by the name “Eleven”. I know it’s a long shot, and I feel ridiculous for even considering the possibility, but I still ask, “Who are these kids?”

"Mike, Dustin, Lucas, and Will. Why?" 

"Will Byers?"

She nods and asks, “Why is all this so important to you?”

I think back to the day I went to the police station. Will Byers had gone missing around the same time people started seeing 011. When Will was found, people stopped seeing 011. I still don’t know how, but these things have to be connected. “I think my sister knows them,” I answer.

Max stares me for a second before asking, “What are you hiding?”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re a weirdly secretive person.”

I shrug. “I like to keep my personal life personal.”

“Well, how about the fact that you told my mom the other night that it was just you and your dad? But you’ve mentioned your sisters to me twice now."

Well, that was a stupid mistake. And I don’t know how to explain it, so I decide to be as honest as I can. “It’s complicated.”

“How complicated?”

“Too complicated for me to explain right now.” Or ever. “Look, do you know where any of them live? This is important.”

Max is looking at me like I’m crazy, but she says, “I don’t know where they live, but if you really want to find them, they hang out at the arcade a lot.”

I sigh. Nothing can ever be easy, can it? But this is the closest thing I’ve had to a lead since getting to Hawkins. “Can you do me a favor?”

“What?”

"Tell your brother that I'm sorry, but I have something I need to take care of."

Twenty minutes later, I walk into the arcade. I ask the guy at the counter if he knows if Mike, Will, Dustin, or Lucas is around, and he says, “I saw Lucas a few minutes ago. He was playing Dragon’s Lair.”

I’m not about to admit that I’m looking for a group of kids I don’t know, so I just say, “Thanks.” Then I walk over to the kid playing Dragon’s Lair. “Lucas?” I ask.

He stares at me for a moment before slowly asking, “Do I know you?”

I guess that’s the closest I’m going to get to a confirmation. I take a deep breath. What I’m about to do is a little risky, but if he doesn’t know 011, it won’t matter. It won’t mean anything to him. “No.” I pull the left sleeve of my jacket up, showing him my tattoo. “But I think we need to talk.”

“Ten.” He looks at me. “You knew Eleven?”

“We lived in the Lab together, and she was like a sister to me. I need to know where she is.”

He doesn’t say anything.

“Look, I know this is hard to believe, and I’ll answer any questions you have, but-” I stop talking when I realize that Lucas looks like he knows something he doesn’t want to tell me. And then I realize that he asked me if I _knew_ 011\. Knew, not know. “What happened to her?” I ask quietly.

All he says is, “We can’t talk about it here.”


	17. Chapter 17

Lucas insisted that we can’t talk anywhere where someone might hear us, and the only place we really have to go is my motel room. “This is where you live?” Lucas asks as we walk in.

I shrug. “For now. I only came here to find Eleven. I don’t plan on staying forever.”

“It’s… nice.”

I laugh shortly. “No, it’s not.” I clear off the table by the window and sit down as I nervously ask, “So, what happened last year?”

“Turn up the tv,” He tells me. “We can’t risk anyone hearing us.”

“That’s overkill, don’t you think?”

“You and I both know how dangerous Hawkins Lab is. We can’t take any chances.”

“And you think they’re listening to this conversation right now?” I ask slowly.

“They might be.”

“They don’t know I’m here.”

“As far as you know.”

I don’t argue. Maybe it sounds paranoid, but I know what Hawkins Lab is capable of. So, I use my powers to turn on the tv and turn up the volume.

“So, are your powers the same as El’s?” Lucas asks.

“I have electrokinesis. I can-”

“I know what it is. You can control electricity.”

I nod. “Right. So, last November?”

Lucas starts telling me about everything that happened last year.

When Lucas finishes telling me everything, I have to sit back in my chair and take a minute to process everything.

011, who Lucas and his friends call El, accidentally ripped open a gateway between worlds last year in Hawkins Lab. Something they call the Demogorgon came through and took Will Byers into its world, the Upside Down. Chief Hopper and Will’s mom had worked out a deal with Hawkins Lab and went into the Upside Down to get Will. El destroyed the Demogorgon, then she disappeared. Literally. Into thin air.

I ignore the fact that I’d been right about Chief Hopper lying to me. I have bigger things to worry about right now. I try to keep my voice steady as I ask, “So, Eleven- El, she’s dead?”

“We don’t know,” Lucas answers.

I know we’re thinking the same thing, though. Eleven disappeared along with the Demogorgon and no one has heard from her since.

“And that’s not all,” Lucas says slowly.

“What else is there?”

“Dustin found this thing. It’s kind of like a slug with legs. But Will says he coughed up something like it last year after he got out of the Upside Down. And he’s been having these visions of the Upside Down. He’s heard the slug there.”

“Are you saying that whatever happened last year might be happening again?”

“Maybe.”

“This slug thing-”

“Dart.”

I look at Lucas. “You named it?”

“Dustin did. Before we realized it’s from the Upside Down.”

“Where is Dart right now?”

“We lost him yesterday.”

“Great,” I say flatly. I’m not going to have an easy time sleeping tonight knowing that some weird thing from another dimension is running around town. Then I ask, “Is this what you guys are hiding from Max?”

“Yeah. How would any of us explain this to her?”

I shrug. “I guess you can’t.”

“How do you know Max, anyway?”

“I know her brother.”

“I heard he’s an asshole.”

“Yeah, I’ve heard that a few times,” I say under my breath. “So, how do you kill things from the Upside Down?”

“Things from the Upside Down don’t like heat or fire. Dart doesn’t even like light.”

I sigh. “This is all just so unbelievable. I mean, I know it’s true, but it’s still a lot.”

When it becomes obvious that I’m not going to say anything else, Lucas asks, “Was Max upset when you saw her?”

I nod. “She doesn’t understand why you guys act like her friend one minute, then exclude her the next. And I get why she’s hurt, but it’s not like you can tell her what’s going on.”

“Why can’t we?”

“Uh, how about because you just told me that the people at the Lab will destroy anyone who tells the truth and anyone who knows the truth?”

“I want to tell her.”

“I don’t think it’s a good idea.” Personally, if I had it my way, the whole world would know about Hawkins Lab and all the horrible things they had done. But we can’t tell Max. We’d be putting her in danger. We’d be putting ourselves in danger.

“Fine. But I think you should meet the rest of the party. Maybe once we’re all together, we can figure out how to take care of this.”

“Sounds good.” I write down the phone number to my room and tell him, “Once you guys all get together, call me and tell me where to meet you.”

“I will.”

I get up and opened the door. Lucas is about to leave when I say, “I have one more question. Was Eleven ok? When you saw her?”

“She didn’t want to go back, but yeah, she was all right.”

I close the door and lock it behind me before I fall apart. I came back for El, but I’m too late. I’m one year too late.


	18. Chapter 18

_November 3, 1984_

Being woken up at eight o’clock by the phone ringing isn’t my ideal way to start a Saturday, but that’s exactly what happens. It’s Lucas, asking me if I can be at the arcade in two hours. I ask him, “Are the other party members going to be there?”

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure.”

“Just pretty sure?” I ask slowly.

“I haven’t talked to any of them yet, but they know how serious this is. If I tell them they need to be there, they’ll be there.”

“What’s the plan, anyway?”

“I guess finding Dart would be the first thing we need to do.” When I don’t say anything, he asks, “Can you be there? At ten?”

“Yeah,” I say after a moment. “I’ll be there.”

I walk into the arcade at ten. Lucas is waiting for me by the entrance, and as we go into the back room, I ask, “Where’s everyone else?”

“They’ll be here soon.”

“And you think it’s safe to talk about everything here?”

“Keith promised that no one will come in here.”

A few minutes later, the guy I talked to yesterday opens the door, and Max walks into the room. She glares at Lucas, who gives her a guilty smile.

“You better get me that date, Sinclair,” The guy, who I’m assuming is Keith says.

Lucas rolls his eyes. “I will.”

When Keith closes the door, I look at Lucas. “Where’s everyone else?”

“I tried to get them here,” He says. “Honestly. But none of them were answering. So, I came up with this plan.”

“You want to tell her?”

“Tell me what?” Max asks.

“Trust me-”

“No,” I say sharply. “You’re the one who said yesterday that we couldn’t let anyone hear us talking about this. Now you want to tell someone who doesn’t need to know.”

“I’m right here,” Max reminds us. “I can hear you guys.”

I sigh, but I tell Max, “He’s going to tell you what happened last year.” I don’t see why we have to tell Max, but I know that I’m not going to be able to stop Lucas from telling her.

“And this is the truth,” Lucas says. “This is what really happened.”

Lucas tells Max the same story he told me yesterday. And she doesn’t believe him. She thinks he’s making the whole thing up. Honestly, I can’t blame her. If I hadn’t grown up in the Lab, if I didn’t have powers, I wouldn’t believe any of this either. But I’ve experienced enough to convince me that anything is possible.

“It’s the truth,” Lucas insists. “Ask Lux.”

Max looks at me. “You weren’t part of this ridiculous story, so where do you fit into all this?”

“You know those sisters I told you about?”

“Are you kidding me?”

“We’re not,” I answer.

“Can you guys just tell me why you’re doing this?” She asks. “What’s the point of making all this stuff up?”

“We’re not making this up,” Lucas says.

Max doesn’t say anything as she turns toward the door. But before she can open it, I put my left arm between her and the door. I pull my jacket sleeve open, my tattoo right in her face. “Eleven is my younger sister. We lived in the Lab together.”

Max stares at my arm before looking at me, studying my face for any sign that Lucas and I are making this up.

“We’re telling the truth,” I say. “About all of this.”

“You guys cannot expect me to believe this.” Then before Lucas or I can say anything, Max opens the door and ducks under my arm.

Lucas runs out after her and comes back by himself a few minutes later.

“She doesn’t believe us?” I ask.

“I don’t know.”

“Earlier you told me that the other party members aren’t answering you,” I say slowly. “Is that something to be concerned about?”

“No, it happens sometimes. We like to use radios, so it depends on whether we’re in range, if they’re on, if we’re around to hear it. I’ll keep trying to contact them, and I’ll let you know when I do.”

“Ok. I’ll see you around.”

I go back to the motel and spend most of the day in bed, trying to process the fact that any of this is happening. I don’t know what I was expecting to find in Hawkins, but it wasn’t this.

That night, I’m sitting in bed, watching tv when Billy calls me. “I tried calling a few times today,” He says when I pick up the phone. “Where have you been?”

“I’m sick,” I lie. “I’ve been sleeping most of the day.” I’m not ready to talk about what Lucas told me yesterday. I’m not ready to talk about what I’ve heard about Eleven.

“You want me to come over?”

“No, that’s all right. I’m about to go to sleep anyway.”

“It’s not even eight yet.”

“I told you, I’m sick.”

Billy is quiet for a moment before asking, “What’s going on, Lux?”

“Nothing,” I say. “I have to go. I’ll call you tomorrow.” I don’t wait for a response before hanging up.


	19. Chapter 19

_November 4, 1984_

Lucas calls me late on Sunday morning and tells me, “There’s a new plan.”

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Dustin says there’s a code red and to meet him at the junkyard. But I need your help with something first.”

“What?”

“You said you know Max’s brother, right? How well do you know him?”

“He’s my boyfriend,” I say slowly. “Why?”

“There’s something I need you to do.”

Twenty minutes after getting off the phone, I meet Lucas at the end of Billy and Max’s street. He wants me to distract Billy so that he can convince Max to come with us. As I walk over to him, I say, “I’ve spent the whole walk trying to figure it out, and I still don’t understand why you can’t just go ring the doorbell and ask Max to come with us.”

“Just trust me on this, ok? I only need five minutes. Then we’ll meet back here. Hopefully Max will be with me.”

“She doesn’t believe us,” I argue as we walk down the street. “And I think it’s better for her that she isn’t a part of whatever is going on.”

“Are you going to help me or not?”

I sigh. “Yeah, fine.”

“I’ll wait here until you go inside,” Lucas tells me.

I go up to the house and ring the doorbell. It takes a minute before someone opens the door. It’s Max, and I ask her, “Is Billy here?”

“What do you think?”

Through the open door, I can hear a Ratt song blaring from the speakers somewhere in the house. Actually, I heard it from halfway down the block. “Can I come in?” I ask.

She holds the door open wider and I walk in. “Good luck,” She tells me before disappearing down the hall.

Billy is in the living room, lifting weights with a cigarette hanging out of his mouth. He turns off the tv when he sees me, and the music stops. “Lux? What are you doing here?”

“I just wanted to say I’m sorry for being so MIA lately,” I tell him. “The last few days have been crazy.”

“Max said on Friday that you had something to take care of with your sister.”

I nod, but I don’t say anything. I’m not ready to say out loud yet that 011 is most likely dead.

He goes on, “I know you weren’t sick yesterday. Max said she saw you at the arcade.” When I don’t say anything, he asks, “What’s going on?”

“I lied about being sick,” I admit.

He laughs flatly. “Obviously.”

“I can’t tell you exactly what’s going on. I don’t want to drag you into this. But I found some people who might know something about my sister.” It’s as close to the truth as I can get.

“At the arcade?”

“Yes.”

Billy doesn’t say anything, but the look on his face tells me enough.

“You don’t believe me?”

He shrugs. “I don’t know. I know how good you are with your half-truths. Even when you do tell the truth, you’re always leaving something out.”

I glare at Billy. Is he seriously going to be like this? “You know that I have to. But I’m telling as much of the truth as I can right now,” I say honestly. “Trust me, you don’t want to get involved in this. _I_ don’t want you involved in this.”

Billy studies my face, clearly trying to decide if he believes me. And after a moment, he says, “I understand.” He puts his arms around my waist and pulls me against him. “Can we do something tonight?”

I want to say yes. All I want to do is forget about everything going on right now and go do something with Billy. But I know that I’m probably going to be busy tonight. “I can’t,” I say apologetically. “I have something I’m doing tonight.”

“Lux, if something’s wrong-”

“Nothing’s wrong.” I look at my watch. Four minutes have passed. I tell Billy, “Seriously, I’m sorry that I keep disappearing. Once I’m done dealing with all of this, I’ll make it up to you.”

“How do you plan to do that?” He asks with a smirk.

“I’m sure we’ll figure something out.” I kiss him before saying, “I have to go.”

I go to pull away, but Billy grabs my hand. When I look at him, he quietly says, “Whatever you’re doing, be careful.”

“Don’t worry.” I hold up my other hand, a blue ball of light hovering over my open palm. “I can take care of myself.”

“I’m serious, Lux. I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

“I’ll be fine,” I say. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”

Lucas is at the corner where we planned on meeting, and Max is waiting with him. As I approach them, Max says, “You guys are really desperate to prove that this is all real.”

“Do you believe us?” I ask her.

She shrugs. “We’ll see.”

The three of us start walking. Lucas is slightly ahead of Max and me, walking with his bike beside him.

“How did things go with Billy?” Max asks. “He was kind of pissed last night. I told him that I saw you at the arcade. I didn’t know you were planning on telling him you were sick.”

“He got over it. I just don’t want to bring him into this.”

“So, these powers you have,” Max says slowly. “Are they the same kind as Eleven’s?”

I shake my head. “She has telekinesis. I have electrokinesis.”

“Electro? What does that mean? You can shock people with your mind or something?”

“That’s one way to put it,” I say with a shrug. “I’d give a demonstration, but I don’t think that putting on a public display of my powers is a very good idea.”

“Did you use your powers on Neil? When you met him on Halloween?”

I nod. “I did say I carry a lot of static.”

“Does Billy know about your powers?”

I nod again.

“I know this is going to sound weird,” Max tells me. “But how do you seem so… normal? I mean, besides all the secrecy, you don’t seem like someone who was kept in a Lab for most of their life.”

“I’ve had five years to observe people and see how they act.”

“Right, but I mean how are you…” She trails off.

“How am I not a basket case?”

“I wasn’t going to put it like that.”

“I try not to think about it,” I admit. Thinking about my time in Hawkins Lab never does any good. Some days the memories are bad enough that I shut down completely. Those days don’t happen nearly as often as they did at first, but they still happen more often than I’d like. I look at her and ask, “If you’re asking all these questions, does this mean you believe us?”

“I don’t know. It all sounds so crazy, but you guys wouldn’t go this far for some dumb joke.” She looks at me. “Would you?”

I laugh. “No. I’m sorry to tell you that this is all very real.”

After what feels like the longest walk ever, we arrive at the junkyard. A kid who looks around the same age as Lucas and Max is standing with an older guy wearing Ray-Bans and… yellow dish gloves?

I wonder, _What the hell am I getting myself into?_

When we get closer, I realize that I’ve seen the older guy before. At the party. He’s the one everyone kept calling Harrington.

That was only four days ago. It feels like a lifetime ago.

The younger one asks Lucas, “Not only did you bring Max, but you brought a complete stranger?”

“Dustin, let me explain-”

“I thought we agreed, as a party, not to tell her.”

“You sure know how to make someone feel wanted,” Max says to Dustin.

The three of them start arguing, and I turn to Harrington. “I’m Lux, by the way.”

“Steve.”

I point to the kids. “Are we doing anything about this, or should we just let them work it out on their own?”

“Normally I’d say it’s not my problem, but we don’t have time for this.” Then he says to the kids, “Hey, guys.”

They keep arguing.

“Guys,” He says again.

When the kids keep arguing, I use my powers to send a current into the space between the three of them. The three of them stare at the singed grass on the ground between them before Lucas looks at me and asks, “Are you crazy?”

“It didn’t touch you guys,” I say. “And even if it did, it wouldn’t have hurt you unless I wanted it to.”

“How did you do that?” Dustin asks me.

I pull up my jacket sleeve and show everyone my tattoo. “My name is Lux, I escaped from the Lab when I was twelve years old, and Eleven was my sister.”

“Wait, who’s Eleven?” Steve asks.

Lucas looks at him. “No one ever told you about El?”

Steve shakes his head, looking incredibly confused.

“She escaped from Hawkins Lab last year,” Lucas says. “She’s the one who opened the Gate and accidentally let the Demogorgon through. She could also move things with her mind.”

“What?”

“Why is that so hard to believe?” Dustin asks. “You just saw what Lux did, right?”

“Yeah, but I’m still not sure what I saw.”

“I’ll answer whatever questions you have,” I tell Steve. “But shouldn’t we focus on this whole Dart-thing right now?”

“Yes,” Dustin says. “And we have a plan.”

When he and Steve finish telling us the plan, I ask, “And you guys think this will work?”

Steve shrugs. “It’s close enough to Nancy and Jonathan’s plan last year, and that went pretty well.”

“Did it, though?” Lucas asks slowly. “You guys sent the Demogorgon straight to us.”

“Do you have a better plan?” Dustin replies. “Or _any_ plan?”

“No.”

I sigh. “I’m willing to give this a try.” Like Dustin said, we don’t have another plan.

“All right,” Steve says. “Let’s get to work.”


	20. Chapter 20

The five of us spend the rest of the day preparing the junkyard for the plan Dustin and Steve came up with. We spend a lot of time making sure the abandoned school bus is secure enough that if something goes wrong, we’ll be able to take cover. As the sun begins to go down, we all get in the bus and wait for Dart to find us.

I look at the baseball bat Steve has with him. The top part of it has nails sticking out of it. “What’s the bat for?” I ask.

“Backup.”

“You’re going to do what? Fight Dart with a baseball bat?”

“That’s what I did with the Demogorgon last year.”

He’s alive, so obviously he can hold his own well enough against the Demogorgon. And if he can do that, Dart shouldn’t be a problem. Still, I say, “Don’t go out there unless something happens to me. I’ll be on the roof with Lucas, and if the plan doesn’t work out, I’ll do what I can. But there’s no reason for you to go out there if it isn’t the only option left.”

“It’s going to work,” Steve tells me, even though he doesn’t sound very sure.

Steve, Dustin, and I sit inside the bus while Lucas and Max keep watch on the roof. We’re all quiet in the bus until there’s a screeching sound from somewhere nearby. I climb up the ladder and ask, “Do you guys see anything?”

“I’ve got eyes,” Lucas answers. Then he shouts to Steve and Dustin, “Ten o’clock!”

From the top of the bus, Max, Lucas, and I watch as one of the creepiest looking things I’ve ever seen stalks through the junkyard.

“Are you sure that’s not a dog?” Max asks Lucas.

It doesn’t look like any kind of dog I’ve ever seen. It doesn’t have any fur, for one thing. Just skin with a slick, wet look to it. And its legs look way too long for a dog. As it creeps closer to the pile of meat, I get a better look at its face… Or lack of a face. Where its face should be, there are petal-looking flaps of skin.

I can’t help it when I whisper, “What the fuck is that thing?”

It stops in the junkyard below, still too far away for us to do anything. I can hear Steve and Dustin discussing something below us, but I can’t focus on what they’re saying. All I can focus on is making sure that thing isn’t about to kill us.

Just as I’m thinking about what a good thing it is that Dart hasn’t noticed us yet, I see Steve on the ground below, slowly walking toward Dart.

Max climbs down the ladder and I can hear her asking Dustin, “What is he doing?”

I already know what Steve is doing. He’s using himself as bait. I begin pulling the electricity in the air toward me, gathering it into a glowing ball in front of me.

“Not yet,” Lucas tells me.

“Are you sure?” I don’t want to wait. I don’t think waiting to kill this thing is a good idea.

“Keep building it up, but don’t use it yet. Let’s see what-” Lucas stops talking and brings his binoculars to his face. Then he shouts, “Steve!”

Steve, who’s slowly approaching Dart, swinging the bat in his hand, doesn’t look at us when he calls, “I’m a little busy here.”

“Three o’clock!” Lucas yells. “Three o’clock!”

I look to the right, where another one of those things is climbing over a car. There are two more on the ground next to the car.

Lucas looks at me. “Hit them.”

The ball of energy I’ve been building up explodes, the currents shooting toward the group of creatures on our right. They’re encased in a blue light and convulse for a second before falling to the ground as the light dies out. Lucas and I both breathe a sigh of relief, but then they get up, completely unharmed.

“No.” It’s all I can think to say. I can’t believe it didn’t work.

There’s nothing we can do except watch as they surround Steve, ready to make their kill.

Dustin starts yelling, “Steve! Abort! Abort!”

The first creature starts running at Steve, who swings his bat at it and jumps to the side. He rolls across the hood of a car and barely has time to get up when the second and third ones launch themselves at him. He swings his bat again and manages to hit them. But we all know it’s not going to hold them off for long.

Max and Lucas start joining Dustin in yelling for Steve to get in the bus.

“Get off the roof,” I tell Lucas.

“What?”

“We aren’t safe up here. Get in the bus.”

We climb down the ladder and Steve runs into the bus. He barely has enough time to close the door before one of those things throws itself against the door. Steve keeps his feet on the door, trying to hold it closed.

The bus starts shaking as more of them start attacking every side of the bus. Everyone is screaming, and Dustin starts yelling into his walkie-talkie, calling for help.

Max, who’s standing next to me, suddenly goes quiet. When I look at her, she’s looking at the ceiling. Something is walking on the roof above us. One of the things sticks its head through the escape hatch. Its face is open, and I can see that the inside of its face is covered in sharp, pointed teeth. Reacting on impulse, I hit it with a jolt of electricity. All that seems to do is piss it off more.

Steve shoves us back, holding the bat between him and the creature. He’s yelling at it when it turns away from us, looking off into the distance. It lets out a long roar before jumping off the bus.

We stand in silence for a moment, looking at each other.

Then Steve steps toward the door of the bus. He opens it and sticks his head out, still gripping the bat. After what feels like the longest minute of my life, he says, “They’re gone.”

“Where did they go?” Max asks.

“Maybe they got scared?” Dustin suggests.

“No.” Steve shakes his head. “They’re going somewhere.”

“We should probably go,” I say. “I don’t want to be here if they decide to come back.” I don’t add that they almost killed us a minute ago and that I don’t think we’ll be lucky enough to escape them a second time. I think everyone else knows it though, because no one argues, and it doesn’t take long for us to get our stuff and start walking back to Steve’s car.


	21. Chapter 21

As we walk through the woods, everyone asks me a million questions about my powers and life in the Lab. Then Steve asks me, “Your powers not working on something, has that ever happened before?”

I shake my head. “Back there was the first time.”

“Maybe you just didn’t use enough power,” Dustin says.

“I was using as much as I could.”

“Where did all those things come from, anyway?” Max asks. “Lucas said Eleven got rid of the Demogorgon last year.”

I look at Lucas. “You never said anything about Eleven closing the Gate. Did she?”

“No.”

“Are we thinking it’s still open?” I ask.

“It makes sense,” Dustin says.

Even if that’s the case, there’s still one thing I don’t get… “Then why are things just starting to happen again? The Gate has been open for almost a year. I mean, other than these visions Will has been having, nothing else happened until you found Dart, right?”

He nods.

“You’re positive that was Dart?” Lucas asks him.

“Yes,” Dustin answers. “He had the same exact yellow pattern on his butt.”

“He was tiny two days ago,” Max argues.

“He’s molted three times already.”

Steve sounds confused as he asks, “Malted?”

_“Molted._ He shed his skin to make more room for growth.”

“When is he going to molt again?” Max asks.

“Soon, probably. Then he’ll be full-grown or close to it.”

“Then he’s going to eat a lot more than just cats,” Steve mutters.

“Wait.” Lucas stops walking and turns to Dustin. “Dart ate a cat?”

Dustin shakes his head. “No.”

“What are you talking about?” Steve says. “He ate Mews.”

Max looks at Steve. “Mews? Who’s Mews?”

“Dustin’s cat.”

“Steve!” Dustin cries.

“I knew it!” Lucas shouts. “You kept him.”

“No,” Dustin says. “No. He missed me, he wanted to come home. I didn’t know he was a Demogorgon.”

Lucas, Dustin, and Max all start arguing, and Steve asks me, “Do you hear that?”

There’s some kind of sound coming from behind us. It’s far away, but I still recognize it. “It’s those things from the junkyard.”

Steve turns back to the kids. “Guys?” When they keep arguing, he shouts, “Guys!”

The Demogorgons start howling again. We run through the trees and come to a cliff.

“I don’t see them,” Dustin says.

Lucas takes out his binoculars, and a second later he says, “It’s the Lab. They were going home.”

When we finally get to the Lab, there are two older kids, probably around Steve’s and my age, standing halfway between us and the guard booth. “Steve?” They both say in surprise.

“Nancy?”

“Jonathan?” Dustin asks.

As we walk closer, I recognize Nancy as the girl who was with Steve at the Halloween party. She’s the girl who asked me about my tattoo.

“What are you doing here?” She asks Steve.

His only response is, “What are _you_ doing here?”

“We’re looking for Mike and Will.”

It seems like everyone in this group knows each other and they’re all connected to each other in some sort of way. None of them are here or involved in this by accident. I look at Max, wondering if she’s feeling like an outsider as much as I am.

“They’re not in there, are they?” Dustin asks, looking toward the Lab.

“We don’t know,” Nancy says.

“Why?” Jonathan asks.

A long chorus of howls comes from the dark building.

“We need to get in there,” I say.

“We can't. The power is off," Jonathan tells us. "The gate won't open."

Dustin looks at me. “Can you open it?"

“I can try,” I answer with a shrug. I’m not feeling too confident about my powers after trying and failing to electrocute those things in the junkyard.

As I walk toward the booth with Lucas, Dustin, and Max following me, Nancy asks Steve, “Why would she be able to get in?”

I can hear Steve explaining who I am as I close my eyes and try to focus on the currents. But there aren’t any currents for me to focus on. And that’s a problem. The only downside to having electrokinesis, which is really more of an annoying limitation than a downside, is that I can’t make electrical currents. I can manipulate existing ones, but I can’t pull a non-existent current out of thin air. “I can’t do it,” I say after a moment.

“Why not?” Max asks.

“I need existing electricity. Even if something is just switched off, the currents still exist, they just aren’t active. I _could_ activate them, but there’s nothing here.”

“What does that mean?”

“The only other time this has happened to me is during power outages.” Another howl comes from the building, and I look up at the Lab. “The power is cut off completely. Something’s happening in there.”

We all stand outside the gate to Hawkins Lab, trying to figure out what to do. But the problem is, every idea we come up with, we can’t do until we get past the fence.

“The power’s back,” Nancy says suddenly.

When we look at the Lab, all the lights are back on.

We surround the guard booth and Jonathan presses the button. “It’s not working,” He says after a moment.

Dustin shoves past him. “Let me try.” Still, nothing happens and he yells, “Son of a bitch!” But when he presses the button again, the gate opens.

Jonathan and Nancy get in Jonathan’s car and drive up to the Lab while the rest of us wait by the guard booth. They’re only gone for a couple of minutes before they drive past us with three people in the backseat. A police Blazer is right behind them and stops in front of us. The passenger door opens, and Chief Hopper is in the driver’s seat. “Get in,” He says.

The five of us get into the car. Steve slams the door shut and says, “Go.”

Then the questions start.

Dustin and Lucas ask the chief a million questions. Where are Mike and Will? What happened in the Lab? Where are we going? What’s going on?

The chief tells us that Will has been infected from a creature from the Upside Down, Mike and Will are both in Jonathan’s car with Mrs. Byers, creatures that sound similar to the ones we encountered at the junkyard have invaded the Lab and killed just about everyone in there, and we’re going back to the Byers house where Hopper is going to call for backup.

Dustin and Lucas tell us about what’s been going on with Will for the past week. They say that Will has been having visions of something they call the Shadow Monster in the Upside Down and that the day after Halloween, he was attacked by something no one else could see. They decide that it was the Shadow Monster, and that must be when he became infected.

As we pull onto the road leading to the Byers house, the chief says, “I need you all to be on your best behavior. Joyce doesn’t need any extra trouble right now. Not with what’s going on with Will. And she just saw those things kill Bob.”

Steve, Max, and I look at each other. None of us have any idea who Bob is… Or was, I guess.

Dustin notices our confusion and quietly tells us, “Bob is- was Mrs. Byers’s boyfriend.”

As we all get out of the car, the chief stops me and asks, “Did you find whatever you were looking for?”

I shake my head. “I was looking for my sister. She was the little girl with the shaved head you guys found last year. Eleven. Lucas told me what she did. How she saved everyone. He says there’s a chance she might be alive, but I’m not stupid. She disappeared into thin air. She’s not coming back.”

Before he can say anything, I walk toward the house, wondering what the hell we’re going to do next.


	22. Chapter 22

It’s just past midnight when Chief Hopper, Mrs. Byers, Jonathan, and Mike take an unconscious Will out into the shed we just spend an hour making unrecognizable.

When we came back from Hawkins Lab, Mike, Dustin, and Lucas realized that the Shadow Monster that infected Will is very similar to something from Dungeons & Dragons called the Mind Flayer. They explained to the rest of us that the Mind Flayer’s goal is to take over other worlds. To do this, it “infects” people and takes control of their minds, using its victims to do its bidding.

Mike told us that the Mind Flayer made will lead a group of Hawkins Lab employees to their deaths, so we know that it can and already is controlling Will. Mike also tells us that the Mind Flayer can see things through Will’s eyes.

After this, we decided that we need to get Will to tell us how to kill the Mind Flayer. But since it can see through Will and seems to know everything Will knows, Will has to be woken up somewhere he won’t recognize. And that’s why we’ve taken everything out of the shed and covered all the walls and windows. Hopefully, the four of them can wake up Will and get the information we need without him knowing where we are.

A few minutes after Will was taken into the shed, the lights in the house start flashing. They stop, and Chief Hopper comes inside a moment later with Mrs. Byers, Jonathan, and Mike behind him. He grabs a piece of paper and begins scribbling something.

“What’s going on?” Dustin asks.

“I think Will is trying to talk to us,” The chief answers.

We all look over his shoulder as he writes a series of dots and dashes.

“What is that?” Steve asks.

“Morse code,” A few of us answer in unison.

Hopper finishes writing, and we look at the letters he wrote under the code.

**HERE**

“He’s still in there.” Hopper turns to us. “Do any of you know morse code?”

Dustin, Lucas, and I all raise our hands.

“You know morse code?” Dustin asks me.

“I had to learn it in the Lab.”

The chief hands me a walkie-talkie. “I’ll send the code through this. You guys translate.”

Before he even goes back outside, I sit down and start writing the morse code alphabet.

Max sits down next to me. “Do you remember all of it?”

“There are a few letters I don’t remember,” I admit. I look at Dustin and Lucas. “What about you guys?”

“I think I do,” Dustin says, not sounding sure at all.

Lucas doesn’t say anything before turning and running down the hall.

“Where are you going?” Steve calls after him.

Lucas doesn’t respond, but it’s not long before he comes back with a piece of paper. He sets it on the table and I realize that it’s a chart with the morse code alphabet.

“This is perfect,” I tell him.

Hopper begins sending the message to us, and soon after that we have the answer to our problems.

**CLOSEGATE**

I stare at the message. Close the Gate? How are we supposed to do that?

The phone starts ringing, and Nancy picks the phone up only to put it back down. It starts ringing again, and Nancy rips the whole thing off the wall before throwing it across the room.

“That doesn’t mean anything, right?” Steve asks. “We could be anywhere.”

And then the howls start.

“Demodogs,” Dustin says, using the name he came up with earlier for the baby Demogorgons.

They sound like they’re nearby, and the younger kids all run to look out the window in the living room.

Chief Hopper comes inside with Jonathan, Mike, and Mrs. Byers carrying an unconscious Will into one of the bedrooms. When he sees the kids looking out the window, he shouts, “Hey, get away from there!”

We all move into the living room as the howls get closer.

“Do you know how to use this?” The chief asks Jonathan, holding out a shotgun.

“What?” Jonathan cries.

“Do you know how to use this?” He demands.

“I can,” Nancy says, stepping forward.

The Demodogs close in on the house, and the chief and Nancy stand at the front of the room with their guns. Steve is just behind them with his bat, Lucas is standing next to him with a slingshot, and Mike is on the other side of Lucas holding what looks like a candlestick. Jonathan, Mrs. Byers, Max, and I are all standing in the back of the room. None of us have weapons, and I can’t stop thinking about the fact that today of all days is when I’ve finally found the one thing my powers don’t seem to harm.

The Demodogs sound like they’re getting closer. The weird chirps and clicks they make sound like they’re coming from right outside the front door. We can hear something moving around the front of the house, and everyone raises their weapons. Then a Demodog comes flying through the window. It lands on its side in the middle of the living room and it doesn’t get up.

The chief carefully approaches it, keeping his gun aimed at it. He kicks its head, which rolls limply to the side. “It’s dead,” He says with what sounds like a sigh of relief.

The group’s attention is drawn back to the front door when the bottom lock turns by itself. Everyone raises their weapons again. As the top lock unlocks by itself, I remember that Lucas told me the Demogorgon can unlock doors. The chain slides out of place and the door slowly opens.

I’m prepared for almost anything that might come through the door, but I don’t think that any of us are expecting the teenage girl that walks in.


	23. Chapter 23

Dead silence.

Everyone stares at the girl in disbelief.

I haven’t seen her in five years, but I still recognize her. It’s 011. My sister.

Mike steps forward, staring at her. She looks at him, and they stand there for a moment before they hug each other.

El has people who care about her. She has people she cares about.

And she’s alive.

“I called you,” Mike tells her. “I never gave up. I called you. Every night. Every night for-”

“Three hundred fifty-three days,” El finishes for him. Her voice breaks when she says, “I heard.”

Where has she been all this time?

“Why didn’t you answer?” Mike asks. “Why didn’t you tell me you were ok?”

“Because I wouldn’t let her,” Chief Hopper says, stepping toward the two of them. Then he asks El, “Where have you been?”

I slowly realize that he’s been hiding her, and from the look on everyone else’s face, they had no idea. Somehow, he managed to keep her hidden.

“Where have _you_ been?” She shoots back.

He hugs her, and Mike says, “You’ve been hiding her. You’ve been hiding her this whole time!”

The chief turns to Mike and says, “Let’s talk.”

Chief Hopper and Mike disappear down the hall, and the rest of the group disperses. El looks at me, and a look of recognition flashes across her face.

“Do you remember me?” I ask her.

She steps toward me and grabs my left hand, turning it over to look at my wrist. She stares at the tattoo for a moment before looking up at me. “Ten?” Before I can answer, she hugs me. “What are you doing here?”

“It’s Lux now,” I say, hugging her back. “And I came here to find you.”

“You did?”

I nod as we pull away from each other. “I am so sorry for leaving you,” I tell her.

“It’s ok. It wasn’t your fault.”

“I thought about you every day. There were so many times where I thought about coming back to get you.”

“Why are you here now?”

“I heard about last year and I came here to look for you. Lucas told me that you saved everyone.” I have to take a breath before saying, “I thought you were dead.”

She shakes her head. “I’m alive. I thought _you_ were dead.”

“We’re both alive.” I almost can’t believe it. I’m not used to things going my way, and finding my sister seems too good to be true.

El reunites with Dustin and Lucas, then with Mrs. Byers “Can I see him?” She asks Mrs. Byers.

Mrs. Byers nods, and they go down the hall to the room Will is in. A few minutes later, they come back into the kitchen. They’re looking at the piece of paper with Will’s message when Mrs. Byers asks, “You’ve opened this gate before, right?”

El nods. “Yes.”

“Can you close it?”

She’s quiet for a moment before answering again, “Yes.”

We all come up with a plan quickly. Time is not on our side. Jonathan, Nancy, and Mrs. Byers are going to take Will to Chief Hopper’s cabin and hopefully burn the Mind Flayer out of Will. Chief Hopper and El are going back to Hawkins Lab to close the Gate. Steve and I have been given the easiest and most boring task. We have to stay here with the rest of the kids.

Outside, El and I hug each other. “Come back safe, ok?”

“I’ll be ok, Lux.”

“Good luck.”

Inside, Lucas and Max start sweeping up the glass from the broken window, and I say, “I’ll go clean the kitchen.” We’ve made enough of a mess in this house, the least we can do is clean it up a little. I’m straightening things up when I hear something heavy drop on the floor behind me. I turn around and find the Demodog laying on the floor a few feet behind me. Dustin and Steve are standing above it.

“Come on,” Dustin says, sounding frustrated. “Pick it back up.”

“I’m trying,” Steve snaps. “It’s heavy.” He bends down to pick the Demodog back up, and Dustin opens the freezer.

“Wait, what are you doing?” I ask when he starts taking things out and setting them on the table.

“Preserving my discovery,” He answers.

“What are you going to do with it?”

“I don’t know yet.”

“Can I shock it?”

“Why?”

“I want to try to figure out why my powers didn’t work on the ones at the junkyard.”

“What if your powers work on it now that it’s dead?” Dustin argues. “Then it won’t be preserved.”

“If my powers work on it now, we’ll have new information,” I point out.

“It won’t matter. No offense, but your powers working on dead Demodogs isn’t going to help us much.”

I roll my eyes even though I know he’s right. “Fine. But I just finished cleaning the table, and you’re making a mess.”

Steve, who looks like he’s seconds away from dropping the Demodog again, tells me, “I’ll help you in a second.” He turns to Dustin. “You’re the one explaining this to Mrs. Byers, all right?” Then he shoves the Demodog into the freezer.

Once Dustin is sure that the Demodog is securely placed in the freezer, Steve helps me move the freezer’s previous contents from the table to the sink. We can’t keep anything from melting, but at least this way the water would get in the sink, and not all over the kitchen table.

We can hear the kids in the living room, coming up with some sort of plan to draw the Demodogs away from the Gate and the Lab.

“I’ll go see what they’re doing,” Steve says. I can hear the kids talking, with Steve loudly rejecting their ideas. Then he comes back into the kitchen and asks me, “Can you make them understand that we’re not going anywhere?”

“Make them?”

“Yeah.”

“How am I supposed to do that?”

“Use your powers.”

“Sorry to disappoint you,” I say drily. “But I don’t use my powers to intimidate people. For some strange reason, I have issues with scaring people into doing what you want them to do.”

“Can you just tell them that we’re not going anywhere? I think they’ll listen to you more.”

Before I can respond, we hear a car coming toward the house.

We got into the living room, and Max is looking out the window. Lucas comes up next to her as she says in a panicked voice, “It’s my brother. He can’t know I’m here. He’ll kill me.” She looks at Lucas. “He’ll kill us.”


	24. Chapter 24

This is not good. There's a whole list of reasons Billy shouldn't be here, ranging from the fact that he’s probably looking for Max and will definitely be mad when he finds her here, to the fact that I'd have to idea how to explain any of this to him. I don't want to explain it, either. I've spent days trying to keep all this from him, and I especially don't want to bring him into it with everything that's happened tonight. But all I tell Max is, “It’s going to be ok.”

She looks at me. “No, it won’t. And he’s not going to be happy about finding you here, either.”

“Everyone stay out of sight,” Steve says, walking toward the front door.

“I’m going with you,” I tell him.

“Lux, this guy is-”

“He’s my boyfriend. He knows about my powers, which means he knows better than to piss me off.”

“What happened to not using your powers to intimidate people?”

I shrug. “These are different circumstances.” I have the feeling it’s not going to be easy to get Billy to leave.

“Fine. Let’s go.”

We step out onto the front porch as Billy gets out of his car, and I’m closing the front door when he calls, “Am I dreaming, or is that you, Harrington?”

“Yeah, it’s me,” Steve says flatly. “Don’t cream your pants.”

It’s such an unexpected response that I have to bite my lip to keep from laughing.

Billy smirks at Steve as he takes off his jacket, and I know that isn’t a good sign. I’ve seen enough fights to know that a guy who takes his jacket off like that is a guy who’s ready to fight. I’ve also heard a lot over the past week about how much Billy hates Steve.

“Steve-” I try to warn.

That’s when Billy notices me, and he asks, “What are you doing here, Lux?” Steve and I step off the porch and walk over to Billy as he glares at me and says, “So when you told me you were going to be busy tonight, this is what you meant? You said you were doing something else, but I guess what you meant is that you were doing _someone_ else.”

I can’t help rolling my eyes when I say, “You know me better than that.”

“I thought I did.”

“What are you even doing here?”

“I’m looking for Max. A little birdie told me she was here.”

“Well, she’s not.” The lie is almost a reflex. “I haven’t seen her since I was at your house earlier.”

“Just go get her,” Billy tells me.

“She isn’t here,” Steve says.

Billy points to the front window of the Byers house and asks, “Then who’s that?”

Steve and I both turn toward the window, where all four of the kids are watching us.

“Jesus Christ,” I say to myself at the same time Steve mutters, “Oh shit.”

Steve turns back to Billy. “Listen-” But that’s as far as he gets before Billy pushes him.

“I told you to plant your feet,” Billy tells him in a low voice. He kicks Steve and then brushes past me like I’m not even there.

I ask Steve, “Are you-”

“Just go stop him.”

Billy is halfway between us and the house, and I pull all the electricity out of the air and throw it in a dome shape over the house.

Billy turns to me as I approach him. “Let me in, Lux.”

“That’s not going to happen,” I say, standing between him and the house. “You need to leave.”

“Not without Max.” He stares down at me as he goes on, "I don't know what's happening with you and Harrington, and I don't care. I don't care about you. But you should know that he's using you. His girlfriend dumped him a few days ago for another guy." He laughs bitterly. “I guess him and I have that in common now, don’t we?”

I don’t respond as I glare at him. Right now, I don’t even care if he means what he’s saying. I have way bigger things to worry about.

Billy steps closer to me as he says, “He’s using you just like I did.”

Even though I know this isn’t the time, I still can’t help asking, “Do you seriously think that I’d cheat on you?”

He doesn’t answer my question. He only says, “Just let me go get Max.”

I can feel myself losing hold on the dome behind me. I’m burning out. The dome is taking up too much energy, and this conversation is taking too long. I take a shaky breath as I wipe the stream of blood flowing from my nose.

“Let it go, Lux,” Billy says, taunting me. “You can’t hold onto it forever.”

Even as I shake my head, I lose my hold on the currents and the dome disappears. I fall on my knees, trying to catch my breath.

Billy doesn’t say anything as he walks around me and into the house.

There’s a hand on my shoulder, and Steve asks, “Are you ok?”

I nod. I don’t have the energy to speak. I haven’t used my powers to that capacity in years. Once I can finally speak, I tell Steve, “You go. I’ll catch up with you in a minute.”

When I finally walk inside, everyone is in the kitchen, and Billy, who has blood dripping from his nose and mouth is shouting, “Looks like you’ve got some fire in you after all! I’ve been waiting to meet this King Steve that everyone’s been telling me so much about.”

All Steve says is, “Get out.”

Billy stares at him, and for a moment, it almost seems like he’s considering leaving. But then he swings at Steve.

Steve ducks and immediately throws a punch. Billy staggers back against the table, laughing. I have to admit, I’m kind of worried for Steve. Someone laughing when you hit them isn’t a sign that you’re winning the fight. Still, it looks like Steve is winning when he gets in two more punches.

Billy is leaning against the kitchen counter now, still laughing. One of his hands is moving on the counter, and I don’t realize what he’s doing until it’s too late. His right hand swings, and the plate he’s holding hits Steve in the side of the head.

The kids, who have all been shouting up until this point, go quiet as Steve backs away from Billy, his hand over the cut on his head. Billy walks toward Steve, already pulling his arm back. He swings, barely missing Dustin, and hits Steve.

“He’s not going to stop,” Max tells me.

The two of them have moved past us and are now in the living room.

“Do something.”

I look at her. What does she want me to do? How am I supposed to stop this? My powers are drained. “I used all my energy on the dome.”

“Try. He’s going to kill him.”

I try to pull the electricity in the room toward me, but my powers are too weak right now for me to be able to keep a grip on the currents.

“Lux,” Max says.

“I’m trying,” I snap. This time I manage to get a small, sparking ball in front of me before I lose control of the currents again.

Billy has Steve on the floor now and is using both fists to hit him, even though I don’t think Steve is even awake anymore.

I try to get ahold on the currents again, but I can’t. “I can’t do it,” I tell Max. “There’s nothing left.”

But Max isn’t standing next to me anymore. She’s walking toward Billy and Steve. As she gets closer to them, she brings her arm up, and I realize that she’s holding something.

It’s a syringe. A syringe from the Lab.

She drives the syringe into the side of Billy’s neck. Everyone freezes as she backs away from Billy. He turns and gets up, staring at her.

I know that sometimes if someone has a lot of adrenaline going through them, something like being tased or being sedated doesn’t always work like it’s supposed to. And I hope that whatever is that syringe works on Billy because if it doesn’t, I have the feeling that he’s going to kill Max before he finishes killing Steve.

Billy pulls the syringe out of his neck and stares at it for a moment. “What the hell is this?” He seems disoriented when he takes another step toward Max, who backs away. “You little shit, what did you do?” He falls backward and hits the floor laughing.

Apparently, Max isn’t done with Billy. She grabs Steve’s bat from where it’s leaning against the wall and stands above Billy. “From here on out, you leave me and my friends alone,” She tells him. “Do you understand?”

“Screw you,” Billy says weakly.

Max swings the bat and brings it down on the floor between his legs. She pries that bat out of the floor as she yells, “Say you understand! Say it!”

“I understand.”

“What?”

“I understand,” Billy repeats before passing out.

Max bends down and grabs Billy’s keys from his pocket. She turns to the rest of us and says, “Let’s get out of here.”


	25. Chapter 25

Mike and Lucas seem ready to leave, but Dustin asks, “What about Steve?”

Max shrugs. “I guess we’ll bring him with us.”

The kids argue for a couple of minutes before Mike finally turns to me. “What do you think?”

I haven’t been listening to them, and I say, “You guys do what you want. I’m not going.”

Everyone looks at me. “What?”

“My powers are useless against the Demodogs. I can’t help you guys. I’m just another person you’ll all need to look out for.”

“So what?” Dustin asks.

“Yeah,” Lucas adds. “Party members look out for each other.”

I shake my head. “There’s no point in me going.”

“Then what are you going to do?” Max asks me.

“I’m going to make sure that the Byers have a house to come back to that isn’t completely destroyed. And I guess I’ll make sure Billy leaves before they come back.”

“Lux-”

“I’m not changing my mind. I can’t do anything to help you guys down there.”

“And you’re not going to try to stop us?” Mike asks slowly.

“Would you guys listen to me if I did?”

Their silence is enough of an answer. They’re doing this no matter what.

Fifteen minutes later, the kids finish packing the Camaro full of everything that they think might be useful in the tunnels.

I wake up Steve, who’s leaning against me as we walk to the car _very_ slowly. I help him into the backseat, where he passes out almost immediately.

“I hope he doesn’t die on us,” Max says under her breath as I close the door. Then she asks, “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”

“I’d be useless,” I answer as I start walking back toward the house.

“You’re not useless,” She says, following me.

I don’t respond.

“I mean, look at that shield you put around the house earlier.”

“It used up so much energy that I couldn’t stop the fight,” I argue. I don’t mention the fact that we all could have died in the junkyard earlier because my powers didn’t work on the Demodogs. I look at Max as I add, “Good thinking on the sedation, by the way. I never would have thought of something like that.” I’ve spent most of my life depending on my powers. And until tonight, they’ve never failed me.

Max looks past me and at Billy, who’s still laying on the living room floor. She looks worried when she tells me, “He’s going to be really mad when he wakes up.”

"I’m hoping he’ll still be too out of it to put up much of a fight when I try to kick him out.”

Max is quiet for a minute before saying, “I know it’s not any of my business, but what’s going to happen with you and Billy?

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. I spent the entire time the kids were getting ready thinking about everything he said to me before the fight. “That’s how he usually is?” I ask.

She nods. “I’m surprised he’s been able to hide it from you for so long.”

“I should have listened to you,” I say quietly. I don’t add that the reason I didn’t is because I wanted a boyfriend who for once wasn’t a completely terrible person.

“Billy is good at getting what he wants,” Max tells me with a shrug.

That’s exactly why I try to avoid getting close to people. Billy used everything I told him about my past to figure out what I wanted. Then he pretended to be what I wanted.

And I was stupid enough to fall for it.

After the kids leave for the tunnels, I clean the Byers house. I don’t want them to come home and have to clean up all the damage we’ve done. I leave Billy passed out on the living room floor. I know that I’m going to have to deal with him eventually, but it’s not something I’m looking forward to.

Suddenly, all the lights in the house brighten. It’s bright enough that I have to squeeze my eyes shut. It lasts for what seems like a full minute before the lights go back to normal. A weight that I hadn’t noticed before feels like it’s been lifted from the world, and I know that El closed the Gate.

That means they got the Mind Flayer out of Will, which means that the Byers will probably be home soon and that Billy and I need to leave.

I stand over Billy, trying to decide the best way to wake him up. Finally, I bend down and put my hand on his arm, sending a jolt of electricity into him. Not enough to do any real damage, but I don’t make it painless.

Billy sits up and looks at me. “What the hell?”

He seems fine. I expected him to be more out of it, considering he was drugged. In fact, I’d been counting on that. I stand up, telling him, “I’m just reminding you of what I’m capable of. You know, in case you decide to go all psycho again.”

“No, I mean, what did you guys do to me? What was in that syringe?”

“All I know is that it was some kind of sedative,” I answer. “And I know that you didn’t listen last time, but I mean it when I say that you need to leave right now.”

“You’re just kicking me out?”

“Is there something else I should be doing?”

“Lux, we need to talk.”

“I don’t think there’s anything to talk about. I mean, you don’t care about me, right? You said you were just using me, and if that’s true then I don’t see why we need to waste any more time with each other.”

Billy stands up as he tells me, “I didn’t mean any of it. I was mad-”

“Because you thought I was cheating on you, which is a whole other issue.”

“I’m sorry, ok? But you can’t tell me that you’ve never said something you shouldn’t have when you were mad.”

“I never have,” I say honestly. “Not like that. I'm not the kind of person who says things just to hurt other people, and I didn't realize that you are."

Billy takes a step toward me. “Lux-” When I take a step back, he stops and stares at me for a second before asking, “What do you think I’m going to do?”

“I don’t know.” I pause before admitting, “I feel like I don’t know you. Max tried to warn me about you, but I didn’t want to believe her.”

“You’re going to let what my stepsister said come between us?”

"Do you know how many times I've ended up wishing that I'd listened to the people who tried to warn me about the guys I was with? Besides, there’s been other things that I’ve noticed. I tried to ignore them, but I can't ignore everything you did tonight."

"Why didn't you say something sooner?"

"I was really hoping that you were going to be different.”

“When you told me about the other guys you were with, I knew that you would never want to be with me if you knew what I’m really like,” Billy tells me. “So, I tried to be different.”

“You lied.”

“No, I tried to change. I swear to god.”

“I really wish you didn’t,” I say quietly. “It would have saved both of us a lot of trouble.”

“Lux, I know that I messed up. I know that I said some fucked up stuff to you earlier, and I’m sorry. But if you give me another chance, I promise I’m not going to mess it up.”

I want to forgive him for all this. I want to give him a second chance. But I’ve made that mistake too many times to make it again. So all I say is, “You should leave. It’s going to be a long walk, and the Byers are going to be home soon.”

“Walk?” Billy asks.

“Max took your car. If you give her any trouble about it, I’ll find out. And I promise I’m not going to be nice when I find you afterward.”

“I’m sorry about everything, Lux.”

“So am I.” I don’t tell him how much I’d wanted this to work out. I don’t tell him that this is the only time breaking up with a boyfriend has actually hurt.

Billy walks out the front door, and I leave a few minutes after he does. I walk down the road, planning on going back to my motel room for the night. I’m not sure what’s going to happen tomorrow, but I’m thinking that I might stick around Hawkins for a while. It seems like a good place to make my home.


	26. Epilogue

_December 15, 1984_

“Lux,” El calls from the bedroom. “I did it.”

I walk in. The bed Hopper brought home earlier is now sitting against the wall across the room from El’s bed.

I sit down on the bed. My bed. In my room, in my home.

I’ve been living with Hopper and El for over a month now. I moved in a couple of days after El closed the Gate. I’ve been sleeping on the couch, but Hopper finally brought home a bed for me earlier today.

I never thought I’d have somewhere where I actually felt at home, but I finally do. Still, I ask El, “Are you sure you’re ok with this? I can keep sleeping in the living room.”

“Lux-”

“I mean, it’s a small room.” I gesture to the two nightstands between the beds. The space is so tight that the nightstands are touching. “I’d understand.”

El grins. “You’re my sister. I want you to be in here.”

I still can’t believe I found El. Finding her was the only reason I’d come back to Hawkins, and somehow, it actually happened. Something in my life worked out for once.

“I saw our sister,” She tells me. “I mean, our other sister.”

“You saw Eight?” I cry. “Where? When?”

“Last month. I went to Chicago to find her. Don’t tell Hopper.”

“She was in Chicago?”

El nods. “She’s Kali now. That was her name before she was taken.”

I don’t say anything. I spent five years in Chicago, in the same city as one of my sisters, and I had no idea. “How was she?” I ask.

“Angry. At everyone, everything.”

I feel bad for Kali. I don’t blame her for being angry. I was angry for a long time, too. But I eventually realized that you can’t let that anger rule your life, or it will eventually destroy you.

“I feel sorry for her,” El tells me.

“So do I.” I wonder if Kali heard about Hawkins Lab closing last month. As it turns out, Nancy had taken her guilt over Barb’s death and did something with it. With Jonathan and Murray Bauman’s help, she had exposed Hawkins Lab’s corruption and secrecy. The official story was that Barb had died from a chemical leak, but either way, Hawkins Lab was shut down.

El seems to think for a moment before asking me, “Is Lux your real name?”

“What do you mean?”

“She was Kali, and Mama named me Jane. Was Lux what your mom named you?”

“I don’t know what my mom named me.” I don’t know if she even bothered giving me a name.

“So, you named yourself Lux?”

I nod.

“Why?”

“I read it in a book. Lux is the Latin word for ‘light’.”

“You named yourself Lux because of your powers?”

I nod again. I might wish for a normal life a lot, but at the same time, I can't imagine life without my powers. They're part of who I am. I ask El, “Are you excited about the dance?”

El has been talking nonstop about the Snowball for the past month, and Hopper is allowing her to go, which I’m still kind of surprised about. But then, he is staying outside the school the whole time.

She nods. “I’m also a little nervous, though.”

“Don’t be. You’re going to have so much fun.”

“Have you ever been to a dance?”

“I went to one with a guy from work once. His date fell through and he didn’t want to go alone. It was my favorite date I’ve been on, even if it wasn’t an actual date.”

“Did you dance?”

“God, no. I can’t dance.”

“Neither can Hopper.”

“Have you seen him dance?”

“I’ve seen him try to dance.”

I laugh. “You should tell him that later, I’m sure he’ll love hearing you put it that way.”

"What are you doing tonight?"

"I'm going to a party with Steve.”

Just like she does every time I have plans with Steve, El asks, "Is he your boyfriend?"

And just like every time, I answer, "No." To be honest, I'm still not over Billy. I'm still pissed about everything that happened, but there's a part of me that actually misses him. Normally when I break up with a boyfriend, I have no problem getting over him. But I hadn't let myself get close to anyone before Billy. Even though we were only together for two weeks, even though we only _knew_ each other for two weeks, I let myself get closer to him than I've ever let myself get to anyone else. But I have to remind myself that the version of him I fell for doesn’t exist. It had been an act.

A couple of hours later, Hopper and El leave for the Snowball. A few minutes after that, Steve picks me up.

We’ve been at the party for about an hour when Steve goes to get more beer. I feel a hand on my arm. I expect it to be Steve when I turn around, but it’s Billy.

I've spent over a month wondering if I did the right thing when I broke up with him, but now all the anger I felt when I broke up with him comes rushing back. It takes me a moment to recover from the shock of seeing him before I manage to ask, “What do you want?”

“Can we talk?”

“Where?”

He leads me into a bedroom upstairs.

When he locks the door, I say, “You remember that if you try anything, I can kill you, right?”

“Yeah, I do.” Then he tells me, “I went to the motel a few days after everything. They told me you checked out.”

“I found somewhere else to stay.” I cross my arms. “You said you wanted to talk, so start talking.”

“I’m sorry, Lux.”

“You’re sorry for what?”

“For everything. I’m sorry for everything that happened that night, I’m sorry for pretending to be someone different. I’m sorry for everything. Can we just start over?”

“If the person I saw at the Byers house is who you really are, I don’t want to be with that person,” I say honestly. “I’ve been with that kind of person way too many times before.”

“You don’t understand. I was desperate.”

“Desperate?”

“My dad told me to find Max. He said not to come home without her.”

“Your dad,” I say flatly. “Right.”

"What's that supposed to mean?"

"It's a convenient excuse."

Billy stares at me in disbelief. “You've seen-”

"Yeah, I have. But you know what? My entire life has sucked. I spent the first twelve years of my life being experimented on in a government lab. After I escaped, I spent four months sleeping on the streets, then the next five years barely scraping by. And I have never used any of it as an excuse to treat people like shit. Not even once. And maybe using your dad as an excuse works with other people, but it's not going to with me."

"Are you seriously going to act like you're a better person than me? Did you forget that I've seen you kill people?"

“Those guards at the Lab? Would you have preferred it if I’d let them kill us? Because that's what would have happened."

“Right. You did something because you _had_ to. Not because you _wanted_ to. And that’s the same choice I had to make at the Byers house.”

“You didn’t have to do any of that.”

“I was desperate,” He says again. “I thought you’d understand what that’s like, but I guess I was wrong.”

“Trying to make me feel guilty isn’t going to work,” I snap. “Of course I understand what it’s like to be that desperate. What I don’t understand is how you can expect me to feel bad for you when you’ve turned out just like your dad. You hate him so much, but from what I saw, you are exactly like him.” I see Billy flinch, but I can’t stop talking. I was telling the truth last month when I told him I don’t say things just to hurt people. But for the first time in my life, that’s exactly what I want to do. And I know exactly what to say to hurt Billy. I go on, "You're just as bad as he is. Even worse, probably, considering the fact you take most of your anger out on your little sister. You try to act tough, but that right there proves how weak you really are."

"She's not my sister."

“Is that seriously all you have to say?”

“You’re a real bitch, you know that?”

I stare at him. He has never called me that, although I’m not sure what I was expecting with everything I just said. “I should go,” I say quietly.

I’m walking past him, toward the door, when he grabs my wrist. It isn’t much of a grip at all, and I know that if I tried, he’d let me leave.

But for some reason, I stay.

“Hold on,” He says. “I’m sorry.”

I shake my head. “Sorry isn’t going to fix any of this.”

Billy pulls me toward him and rests his forehead against mine. “Then tell me how to fix this,” He begs. “I will do anything to fix this.”

He’s pleading with me. I know that if I walk out of this room, things are going to be over between us for good. Even though I don’t want to end things, I back up a step.”

“Lux.”

“I’m sorry,” I tell him honestly. “I really liked you. I still do. I wanted things to work out so badly, but I can’t do this. Even if I could forget about everything you did, you lied to me. You tried to make me think you were a different kind of person than the kind you really are.” My voice breaks as I go on, “I told you about what kind of guys I was with before because I trusted you and I thought you were different. But you were just pretending to be different.”

“I could be different,” Billy tells me.

I shake my head. “I’ve heard that before and it’s never worked out well.”

“Look, I know that your other boyfriends were assholes. I know that some of them hurt you. But I promise, Lux, I am not like them. I fucked up, and I’m sorry. It’s not going to happen again. I won’t let it.”

I don’t say anything.

“I understand that you’re scared that I’m going to turn out like the others,” Billy tells me. “But if you give up on us because of your exes, then they win.”

I hate that he just said the same thing I’ve thought about more than a few times in the past month. I’m in the middle of throwing away a relationship with the only guy I’ve actually liked being with. And I know it sounds ridiculous that the reason I’m doing it is because of my ex-boyfriends. But I still tell Billy, “I can’t do this. I’m sorry.”

“Lux.”

I can’t bring myself to look at him when I walk out of the room.

I find Steve downstairs, in the hallway near the front door. “Where’d you go?” He asks me.

“Upstairs.”

He must see something in my face, because he asks, “Are you ok?”

Billy walks past. He doesn’t look at Steve or me as he walks out the front door.

Steve looks at me. “Were you-”

“I know what you’re thinking, but we were just talking. I swear.”

“How did it go?” Steve knows all about my relationship with Billy.

“I’m pretty sure I just ruined any chance of us ever getting back together.”

“I thought that you didn’t want to get back together.”

“I don’t know if that’s what I want,” I admit. But I know that it doesn’t matter now. Not after the way I just walked out on him upstairs. Even if I changed my mind and went after Billy right now, I’m pretty sure he’d turn me down.

Steve studies my face before asking again, “Are you ok?”

“No, not really.”

“Do you want to talk about it?”

I laugh a bit. “Yeah, right. What I want is another beer.”

“More beer sounds good,” He agrees. “Let’s go get some.”

I follow Steve through the crowd, hoping that I didn’t make a mistake by letting Billy leave.

“Listen, don’t worry about Hargrove,” Steve tells me. “If you want a boyfriend, you’ll have no problem finding one. The entire basketball team has been asking me about you for weeks. So have a ton of other guys.”

“I think it’s best if I stay single for a while,” I mutter. “I’ve never been between boyfriends for very long, and maybe that’s part of my problem.”

He hands me a beer. “Then how about we focus on having fun tonight?”

I grin. “That sounds good.” With everything I’ve been through, I feel like I’ve earned at least one night of fun.

So, I tilt my head back and take a drink.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First of all, thank you to everyone who helped this story hit over 1100 views! Also, don't worry. Despite the way this ended, I promise that Lux and Billy's story isn't over yet. I've finished writing the sequel, but I'm still editing it. Hopefully I'll start posting chapters sometime within the next week!


End file.
